Hello there everyone!

This is an interesting idea I had while watching Isekai Quartet. What if Kazuma had different companions? Then I realized that was stupid, but not completely a bad idea. The basic gist is that all of our disastrous team are better version of themselves.

Does this mean that Kazuma's life in the new world will be a breeze? Of course no!

The gang is better at fighting and other stuff, but their extravagant (and lovable) personalities are left intact for the most part. Still, with better companions, Kazuma will (hopefully) manage to use this better team to do some incredible things... and suffer less in this new world.

The usual disclaimer that I don't own Konosuba and stuff. You all know how this goes.

Finally, feel free to leave a review, all of them are appreciated! And I hope you like this fic of mine!

Part 1

A single carriage made a loud creaking sound as it drove over the pavement.

"… Another world… Hey, it really is another world… Eh, it's for real?! Am I going to use magic and go on adventures in this world?"

Kazuma couldn't help but tremble with excitement because of the scene before him, and started talking to himself.

Before his eyes were houses built from red bricks, the streets right out of Europe from the middle ages. No matter how much you looked, there were no cars, bikes, power lines, or telecommunication cables in sight.

"Ahhh… Ahhh…!"

In his excitement he failed to notice the sounds coming from besides him. Instead he looked around the street, watching people pass by.

"Animal ears! There's someone with animal ears! Elf ears! Is that an elf? With such striking facial features, she definitely has to be one! Goodbye to my shut-in life! Hello different world! If it's this world, then I'm willing to go out and explore it thoroughly!"

"Ahhh… Ahhhh… Ahhhhhh…!"

Kazuma finally acknowledged the noise, turning around and looked at the source, who was hugging her head and screaming.

"Hey, you're noisy. What if people think I'm friends with a crazy woman like you? Stop screaming."

The pitiful crying girl was Aqua. She had been the goddess that had greeted him in the afterlife and granted him a second chance in this other world. Why was she now a crying desperate mess? That was the result of the choice he had made there. Kazuma couldn't and wouldn't be able to ever forget that fateful meting with the goddess. Especially since literally not even five minutes had passed ever since.

When Kazuma first saw Aqua, he truly had been astounded. She was incredibly beautiful, and at that time truly seemed like a celestial being. The divine aura she had around her only cemented this fact. It was incredibly Powerful. That being said…

"Hey, hurry up. It doesn't matter which one you choose. I have no expectations of a shut-in nerd. Can you just pick one and be on your way? Anything will do. Hurry up, hurry up…"

The moment she opened her mouth that good portrait of her came crashing down.

Her voice was sweet and beautiful, but what it said was, well… One of the fist things she did was mocking him for his pathetic death and humiliating him just because she felt good doing it. Her word were like acid, every single one of them stings horribly.

But after she finished trashing him, she instead moved to making him an invaluable offer. The chance to be reincarnated in another world with an overpowered cheat-like ability or equipment. She also cleared his mind about the language barrier, though she had been very tactless in doing so. And right now…

"H-hey! I-I'm not a nerd…! And I died outside, so I'm not a shut-in…!" Kazuma couldn't help but answer in a trembling voice, while Aqua simply toyed with the ends of her hair.

"Still, these options are all really overpowered… but it isn't the only thing right? According to the video game norms you mentioned, I should be given something like the minimum equipment right?"

"Ah, that's right! I guess I almost forgot…" The clearly bored Aqua actually broke from her indifferent bubble and left her bag of chips.

… Hey, is this girl serious? Where talking about my future in another world and the mission to defeat the Demon king but she's still this careless? How did she manage to get this crucial role?

Aqua moved her hand and a bag appeared at his feet in front of the paper-filed floor. Kazuma opened to see it filled with coins, of what should be that worlds currency. Luckily it will be a hefty amount so that combining with his cheat ability or item it will allow him to advance quickly.

"Still, it doesn't matter! Just hurry up and choose. There are still many dead souls waiting in line!"

Aqua sat again on her chair as she spoke, grabbing her snacks and munching on them without even looking at him.

… Ughh… This girl, mocking my cause of death even though it was the first time we'd met. Acting so stuck up just because she's pretty…

Aqua's can't-be-bothered attitude made Kazuma mad. His somewhat level head and calmness at the face of such bizarre situation and disgusting fellow finally gave in.

You want me to choose quickly, right? Then I'll do just that. Something I bring bring to that world.

"… Okay, I choose you!"

Kazuma said as he pointed at Aqua.

Aqua looked surprised for a moment but then continued munching on her snacks.

"Alright, please stand there and don't move out of the magic circle…" Aqua suddenly stopped talking. "… Wait, what did you just say?"

"Satou Kazuma-san," With a flash of white light, a winged woman appeared out of nowhere. Her appearance could only be compared to that of an angel. "We have heard your request, and as it is within the rules, it shall be granted. I will be taking over Aqua-sama's position from now on,"

"… Eh?"

As Aqua squealed in complete surprise, some blue magic circles appeared both under Aqua and Kazuma's feet.

Oh, is this it? Am I really going to another world?

"Wait…! Huh, what's happening? Eh, you can't be serious! No! No…! Hold on! This is too weird! Isn't it cheating to bring a goddess along? This shouldn't count! Wait! Please wait, okay?"

Aqua panicked with tears in her eyes; she was a big mess.

The angel spoke while facing Aqua:

"Bon voyage, Aqua-sama. Please leave the rest to me. We'll send envoys to welcome you back right after the Demon King's defeated. Before you return, I'll handle all of your tasks."

"Wait! Wait! I may have the ability to heal as a goddess, but I have no combat ability to speak off! It's impossible for me to defeat the Demon King!"

The angel who appeared suddenly ignored the desperate Aqua, who collapsed on the floor crying, and instead smiled gently at Kazuma. "Satou Kazuma-san. You'll be heading to another world now and will become one of the candidate heroes to defeat the Demon King. Should you accomplish this daunting task, you'll be rewarded with a gift from the gods the moment you manage to defeat the Demon King."

"… Gift?"

Kazuma asked repeating what she said. The angel just smiled warmly at him.

"That's right, a gift befitting the savior of the world… You'll be granted a wish; it may be anything you want."

"Oh!"

This truly opened a bunch of choices for him. He could for example, return to Japan if he ever grew tired of that world, becoming rich and spending all day playing video games while surrounded by ladies. And that's only taking his previous world into account! Any crazy dreams he had would be possible!

"Wait! Giving that cool speech is my job!" Aqua wailed on the floor after the angel took her job.

Kazuma was satisfied seeing the girl who had made fun of him and treated him like trash act this way. So, he pointed at Aqua and said:

"Tell me, how does it feel to be companions with a man you look down on? Hey, you're the 'thing' I've chosen to bring along! Since you're a goddess, use your godly powers to make my adventure a breeze!" Kazuma couldn't help but have an evil grin while saying these words. It felt refreshing.

"No! Going to another world with a man like this, no way…!"

"Hero, may you be victorious among the many hero candidates and be the one to vanquish the Demon King…! Well then, I bid you farewell!"

"Wahhh! That's my line!"

And with the announcement from the angel a bright light surrounded both the wailing Aqua and Kazuma completely.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh–!"

Kazuma's memory of what had happened in the afterlife less than five-no, one minute ago was rudely interrupted by the screaming goddess as she pounced over to grab him.

"Whoa! What…? What are you doing, don't act this way! I get it, you're shocked. If you hate it that much, you can go back. I'll work out the rest on my own."

Aqua tried to strangle him with teary eyes, so Kazuma shook off her hands and tried to shoo her away with an annoyed expression.

In the end, Aqua said with trembling hands "What are you saying? I'm troubled because I can't go back! What now? Hey, what should I do? What am I going to do from now on?"

Aqua fell into a panic in tears, pacing about while hugging her head. Her waist-length hair was a mess. She definitely looked crazy right now, although she was a beauty if she didn't speak.

"Okay, calm down, goddess, the first place to search for should be the guild. Everything starts from collecting information at a guild, tavern or inn, that's the standard in RPGs."

"Huh…? You're supposed to be just a shut-in gaming NEET, so why are you so reliable? Ah, Kazuma, my name's Aqua. I don't mind you addressing me as goddess, but do call me by my name whenever possible or else citizens will surround us and we won't be able to go on adventures and take down the Demon King. Even though this might be a different world, I'm still one of the revered gods in it."

Aqua confidently said as she recovered completely from her panic attack in just a moment, and followed behind Kazuma.

All right, there should be groups formed to take on the Demon King or an adventurer's guild made to defeat monsters. Speaking of which, Aqua was a goddess. Therefore, I could ask her if I have any questions.

"Aqua, please tell me where the adventurer's guild is. Which way should we go?"

Kazuma asked Aqua, but she just looked back at him blankly.

"…? I wouldn't know even if you ask me. I know the common knowledge of this world as well as some important pieces of information, but I don't know the specifics of this town. This is just one of the many existing planets, and just a small town at that! How should I know?"

Man, I thought this girl would help me out more, but right know this girl looks useless.

Since there seemed to be no other way, Kazuma asked a middle-aged lady passing by. He didn't ask any guys for fear of meeting delinquents, and the difficulty of talking to young girls was too high for a teenager with the lifestyle Kazuma had.

"Excuse me, may I ask you something? I'm looking for a place like an adventurer's guild…"

"Guild? Oh my, to not know where the guild is, might you be from out of town?"

The confirmation of the lady that there was a guild in town relieved him. Aqua mentioned it was a small town, but they could get easily lost either way.

"That's right, I'm a traveler who came all the way from a faraway land. In fact, I just reached this town."

"Oh my… 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'll then see the signboard for the guild."

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

A town for novice adventurers. It was indeed a good starting point for the dead transported to this world. After thanking the lady, Kazuma followed her directions while Aqua followed him with respect in her eyes and sighed. And while she did show some respect towards him, she resumed her insults toward him.

"Hey, you came up with an excuse right on the spot. Why are you able to handle this so perfectly? You seem to be a capable guy, so why were you a shut-in NEET without any friends or a girlfriend? Why would you want to stay at home all day and be a shit-in NEET?"

"Not having friends or a girlfriend isn't a bad thing. One can't measure the value of a person by the number of friends or by having a significant other." By the way, Kazuma just thought of the text of various RPG's he'd played, and made something of his own, and quite easily. Which surprised him.

"Moreover, don't call me a shut-in NEET you damn bitch! Don't combine shut-in and NEET together…! I'm just sixteen, I'm too young to be a NEET by society's standards…! There it is."

Aqua pounced over to strangle him for calling her a bitch, but Kazuma ignored her and managed to enter the adventurer's guild.

If the game-like structure also applied here, this should be a place for adventurers to take up quests which was a staple in games. An organization that supports the adventurers. The job agency of this world.

The rather large establishment stood before them, and the fragrance of food drifted from within.

Some rough characters would certainly be inside. They might find trouble with me if they see unfamiliar faces.

After taking a minute to prepare himself mentally and entering…

"Ah, welcome. Please approach the counter if you're looking for quests. If you're here to dine, then please take any empty seat…!"

A waitress with short red hair received them warmly. The slightly dim interior seemed to double as a bar. Seen congregating inside were groups of men in armor, but they didn't seem to bear any ill will.

Still, apparently unfamiliar faces were rare, as everyone was focusing on them. But Kazuma took no time in realizing why they were looking his way.

"Hey, they're looking this way too blatantly. It must be the holy aura coming from me. They must've discovered that I'm a goddess." The reason was the appearance of the goddess speaking dumb words. After all, she really was a beauty as long as she didn't speak, so everyone's eyes were attracted to her.

Kazuma ignored their gazes and continued with his original objective.

"… Listen carefully, Aqua… They'll give us a tutorial if we register, enabling us to earn a living. That's the kind of place adventurer guilds are." Kazuma looked at his bag filled with silver coins. He took one and despite of never learning the alphabet of this world he could read them just fine. The currency was called 'Eris' and the silver coin was worth 1,000 Eris. In his frantic approach, he had forgotten to count them, but it looked like a decent amount.

"We should use this to get some equipment, take some simple jobs and introduce ourselves to a good tavern. Most games start out this way. For today, let's register with the guild, get some equipment, and find a place to sleep."

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

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

Taking Aqua with him, he made a beeline for the counter. Kazuma queued at the first counter and began counting the money he had received from Aqua.

"… Hey, the other three counters are empty. Why are you queuing here? We won't have to wait if we go to another counter…"

Kazuma finished counting twenty silver coins, which meant 20,000 Eris. He saw that there were four counter staff members. Two of them were female. Of those four only one was free, but by chance Kazuma had queued up at the counter with the prettier lady.

"Ah, because this counter worker's the prettiest, huh? Really, I was a bit impressed and thought that you were reliable just now, but you're really doing this?"

Aqua, who was following him, didn't seem to know anything, so he whispered to her quietly:

"First, I was counting the money that we brought to this world, so I didn't pay attention to all of the counters. Still, I'm glad I chose this one. Building a good rapport with the guild's counter staff are the basics. This pretty counter lady stands out from the others, so she definitely has plenty of flags to raise. This means that there will be more shocking hidden side quests waiting for us. For example, the counter lady might be a powerful adventurer or something."

"… Now that you mention it, I saw something similar in a manga. Sorry, I'll wait in line obediently." Kazuma thought for a moment about how Aqua said she didn't play games, yet still read manga.

Because they didn't approach the other empty counter and intentionally queued here, the other staff were looking at them curiously. Nevertheless, now that he noticed it, Kazuma just decided to pretend not to notice.

It was finally their turn.

"Good morning, how may I help you?"

The counter worker was a gentle beauty. Her wavy hair and large breasts made her look mature.

"Eh, I want to become an adventurer. I come from the countryside and don't know anything…" Since telling the story that they come from the countryside or a faraway nation, they'll get a more thorough explanation, Kazuma continued with his facade.

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

That's right this was the basic tutorial. I just need to follow the instructions of the counter lady…

Kazuma opened his pouch and internally thanked himself for making sure to obtain money before coming here. "Okay, how much is it?"

"The registration fee is 1,000 Eris per person." Kazuma handed the lady two silver coins.

"All right. Since you said you want to become an adventurer, you should have some level of understanding, but I'll explain it from the start… First, adventurers are responsible for the extermination of monsters wandering outside the town, people who get rid of dangerous creatures that might harm the citizens. They're also jacks-of-all-trades, taking on odd jobs that require their talents. Collectively known as adventurers are people who earn a living this way. And among adventurers, there are different jobs."

Finally, it was coming. This was a norm for adventurers. Be it jobs, class, or whatever it's called, you had to choose the way you fought in this world. Compared to the blunt warrior profession, flashy jobs like mages should be better.

The counter lady handed Aqua and Kazuma one card each. It was about the size of a driver's 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, 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 absorbs will be shown here. At the same time, the level corresponding to your experience points will be displayed here. This shows how strong an adventurer is. How many enemies you defeat will be recorded here. With the accumulation of experience points, all creatures will grow stronger rapidly at some point, known as leveling up. Simply put, leveling up will grant you all sorts of benefits, such as skill points to learn new skills. So please work hard to increase your level."

After listening to the explanation, Kazuma recalled what Aqua said. She asked him, "Do you like games?" And this conversation confirmed it now, this world truly was just like a game.

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

Kazuma filled in his measurements on the form given to him by the counter lady.

Height was 165 cm, weight 55 kg. Sixteen years old, brown hair and eyes…

"That'll be fine, please touch this card. This will display the strength of each of your abilities for reference when choosing your job. After accumulating skill points, you can learn skills that are available for your job. This is one of the key points in choosing occupations."

Oh, it was time for this. The time to show my amazing potential and create a big commotion in the guild!

With tense emotions and a heart full of expectation, Kazuma touched the card.

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

Hey, denying my life of adventuring right from the very start!? What was this? The corners of Aqua's lips were high in a smile, tempting Kazuma with the urge to punch her.

Me being weak doesn't help your cause, you know… But high luck? Isn't that really good? The counter lady clearly doesn't know about RPG's. Even though not the most forefront stat, it still is one of the best stats!

"Um, well… I'd like to become an Adventurer…"

The counter lady said with a face of worry:

"I-It's fine. After leveling up and raising your stats, you can change your job! In addition, the Adventurer job is just what it sounds like. It's a combination of all jobs. That's right, it might be a basic level job, but it doesn't mean it's worse than the others! Adventurers can learn and use the skills of all jobs after all!"

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

After the counter lady pointed out the good points, Aqua immediately shot them down. I should find a place to throw her away.

It seemed that I would be taking a basic job, a beginner job. While versatile, it was the weakest job. Still, Kazuma should be able to work with it. Besides, Kazuma was still an adventurer that appeared in this world.

As he received my card with my name and the job 'Adventurer' written on it with a heavy heart…

"Eh? Huh? What's with these numbers? Leaving the lower than average intelligence and rock bottom luck aside, the rest of your stats drastically exceed the average! Especially your magic, it's abnormally high! Who in the world are you…?"

The counter lady screamed after looking at the card Aqua touched. The whole place was in an uproar.

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

"Ah, is that right? Therefore, it means I'm amazing. Oh my, it's only natural by my standard."

No matter how useless, she was still a goddess. However, Aqua being so happy that she became embarrassed somehow pissed Kazuma off.

"This… This is way beyond amazing! Mage-type jobs that require high intelligence aren't available…" We'll, there goes any chance of an offense Aqua. "However, you may choose any other job! The holy knight with its strongest defense, Crusader; the swordsman with the strongest attack, Sword Master; and the top-tier cleric, Arch-priest. You may choose from most of the top-tier jobs right now!"

Aqua, slightly troubled by the counter lady's exclamation said, "Well, it's a pity that goddess isn't available as a job. It'll be Arch-priest for me then."

"Arch-priest! Arch-priests can use all kinds of recovery and support spells. They can even take the role of vanguards, a strong all-rounder job! I'll register you now… Done. Welcome to the adventurer's guild, Aqua-sama! All of our staff look forward to your grand exploits!"

The counter lady said with a pleasant smile.

… Strange, what was this? As I said, this should've happened to me… Ah, forget it–

With that, Kazuma life as an adventurer began in this new world.

Part 2

– Under the clear blue sky.

"Ah! Help! Aqua, cast more spells…!"

"Don't rush me Kazuma! I'm casting as fast as I can!"

Okay, this girl truly was annoying.

As Aqua finished chanting, Kazuma continued to run away as a giant frog-like monster chased him. He felt the buffing spell take place, made a sudden turn and slashed at the frog monster just as it landed. He had repeated this motion constantly, and managed to take down a frog down already. But doing it all again was starting to tire him.

This was the open plain outside of town. They took a quest from the guild in the morning and headed there.

Yesterday they found an inn in which to stay that night at 1,000 Eris per person, enough for them to rent a room and rest in the new world for the first time.

Kazuma didn't want to blow all of his money right away, so he took the bare minimum weapon needed, he chose a short sword.

Aqua was acting dumb, saying a goddess wielding weapons was unglamorous and wasn't equipped with anything. She was however, casting spell after spell to buff and heal him. And while Kazuma hated the fact, without her he probably wouldn't have been able to survive the giant frogs, even less take one out.

Well she was my chosen 'thing' to bring here, so it's fine, right?

Kazuma felt another spell take place, and delivered the fatal blow to the frog. He cleared his swat and sighted. I guess I should thank her after all…

Kazuma looked to the corpse of the monster. He had learned to don't look down on them just because they're frogs.

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

If they could swallow a goat whole, swallowing Aqua or him would be easy too. In fact, children and farmers often went missing during their mating season.

Even though they looked just like frogs, they were still dangerous monsters, stronger than other small monsters near town, so much that the first had been exterminated, while the later still remained at large.

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

Their thick fat was effective against blunt attacks. They hated metals, so they wouldn't hunt you if you were fully equipped. It was an easy foe for normal adventurers. That was why skillful adventurers like to hunt them, but they were neither skillful nor well equipped.

"Huff–Huff–Aqua–! Erm… Thanks for having my back there and well saving me…" Kazuma found it extremely hard to thank the arrogant goddess. But I suppose she deserves praise and merit were those are due…

"Ah! It seems Kazuma is finally understanding my power and value! If you're so grateful, why don't you prove it? For starters, add a '-san' when you address me."

Even though any praise went directly to her head. I guess I'll have to deal with this from now on, even if I don't like it.

"And also, you'll need to worship this goddess from tomorrow onward! You'll have to join the Aqua sect in town and pray to me three times a day! You can't object if I take any side dishes from you during meals! In addition…"

While Aqua was lost in her own head, she didn't notice another giant frog appear behind her. Luckily Kazuma did see it, so she grabbed Aqua and ran out of there. Not one second too late, as the frog opened it's mouth and attacked the ground where Aqua stood just a second ago.

"Aqua–! You…! How could you almost get eaten–?"

Aqua's face looked lost, remaining frost on the one she had when she was making demands out of him.

"Come on! Let's take this last one! Buff me again Aqua!"

Aqua snapped out of it and began chanting. "R-right!"

Maybe I shouldn't rule her out of the useless category just yet…

And so once more, Kazuma drew his short sword and charged at the frog.

Kazuma dropped on the ground next to the body of the frog he just defeated and regained his breath. The frogs had hit him plenty of times, but Aqua always healed him, so his health was in perfect condition. With the exception of how tired he was.

"Are… Are you okay, Aqua? You're fine right…? Hey, let's go back for today. The quest we took on was exterminating five frogs in three days, but they weren't opponents we could handle. Let's try again when we've got better equipment. Look, I only have a short sword, no armor, and I'm still wearing my tracksuit. Let's come back when we're equipped more like adventurers."

To be honest, a novice like Kazuma only managed to defeat the frogs because of all the buffs and healing that Aqua had made. If the frog had attacked him without hesitation, Kazuma wouldn't have the strength to vanquish it.

"Ye-yeah. Thanks Kazuma. I guess that I would've been eaten if it weren't for you…" Aqua had a genuine look of embarrassment. She probably really regretted being so care-free. At least I hope so…

"Of course… Don't worry about it… Can you help me get up?"

"Haaa... I guess it can't be helped-"

And so, the adventure for today ended with three dead toads and a very exhausted Kazuma.

Part 3

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

After returning to town, the first thing they did was head to the bathhouse to wash up and relax. The public baths here were no different from the ones in Japan. They might been better saving money right now, but Kazuma simply couldn't change the habit of taking a bath after finishing exhausting work.

They then ate fried frog meat in the adventurer's guild and discussed their plans.

Apart from being a meeting place for adventurers, the adventurer's guild also doubled as a bar. It allowed adventurers to sell the monsters they hunted, and serving tasty monsters was also a bit of a selling point for them.

The team sold the meat of the three frogs they hunted to the guild and earned some allowance in the process.

The frog was too big for the two of them to carry, but, if you turned in a request to the guild, they'd provide delivery service, transporting the monster you defeated.

Selling one frog and deducting the transport fee earned them 5,000 Eris, meaning they got 15,000 Eris for killing three of them. Sadly they couldn't complete the quest of killing five, so the reward of 100,000 Eris would have to wait for tomorrow.

The earnings they made plus what they had managed to save all counted to some 20,000 Eris, meaning they hadn't actually gone down on their finances. Still, that was not enough to suit up properly for them to defeat the frogs. And in their current condition, taking on the giants was to much of a danger.

However, the slightly tough fried meat of the giant frogs was unexpectedly tasty, which surprised Kazuma. When he first came to this world, he was a bit hesitant about eating lizards and frogs. However, after having one prepared and served to him, he found it to be quite delicious.

Of course, the goddess before him 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 frog meat, Aqua waved the fork in her hand.

"Wiff mi hare, I 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'm an Arch-priest after all, a top-tier job! I can use all sorts of healing spells and support magic, and I can relieve poison and paralysis statuses. I can even perform resurrection," Wait, she can what? Why wasn't I told this?

"-a talent any team would want. I might've fallen into the mortal world, causing my powers to be far from my peak, but I'm still a goddess… Ahem! I'm Aqua-sama after all! I just need to put up a notice and a bunch of people begging me to 'bring me along on quests' will show up! If you understand, then give me another piece of fried frog meat!"

After finishing, the self-proclaimed goddess grabbed a piece of fried frog meat from Kazuma's plate as he watched her with worried eyes.

Part 4

The very next day, at the adventurer's guild.

"… No one's coming…"

Aqua dejectedly mumbled to herself.

After displaying a recruitment notice, they sat at a table inside the adventurer's guild and waited for companions to show up. It had been half a day.

The other adventurers saw their notice.

Besides them, several adventurers were recruiting members; they conducted interviews, talked with them and went off.

I knew very well why no one was coming.

"… Hey, let's lower our standard. Our goal's to defeat the Demon King, so such conditions were necessary… However, 'only recruiting top-tier jobs' is a bit too grueling."

"Ugh… But…"

In this world, adventurer jobs were divided into tiers, with some of them being top tier jobs. Aqua's Arch-priest was one of those top-tier jobs. It was difficult for normal people to qualify for this job. She could very well be a hero candidate. That's how high ranked she was.

Moreover, it was normal for such hero candidates to enjoy a privileged life in other teams. Aqua wanted to recruit powerful companions to take down the Demon King, but these companions were not only hard to come by, it was even harder for them to consider such a small and inexperienced group,

"If this goes on, no one will apply! You might have a top-tier job, but mine's the weakest. They probably look at us with suspicion because of this. Besides, I'll lose my place if elites suddenly surround me. How about lowering the entry requirements…?"

Just as Kazuma was preparing to stand up…

"I saw the notice recruiting adventurers with top-tiers jobs. Are you the ones who posted it?"

A girl regarded them with red, sleepy eyes. Her smooth black hair reached her shoulders. She was a girl in classic witch attire with a black cloak, dark boots, pointy hat and a staff. Her features were delicate like a porcelain doll. It was a loli.

In this world, it wasn't surprising for children to work

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

"My name is Megumin! I am an Arch-mage who uses the magic of the 'Detonation' series to it's core! I even control the strongest offensive magic, Explosion…!"

"… Are you here to tease us?"

"I-I'm not!"

Kazuma couldn't help retorting with dead eyes at the self-introduction of the girl as she denied in a panic.

Moreover, what's with the name Megumin?

"That red eye, are you a Crimson Demon?"

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

"That's correct! I'm an elite mage from the Crimson Demon Clan, Megumin! My magic's powerful enough to split the mountains…! … That's how it is. Do you need an excellent mage? … By the way, I've a favor to ask. I haven't eaten in three days. May you give me something to eat before the interview…?"

Megumin looked at them with sorrowful eyes. A 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're injured, this girl is an Arch-priest, so she can heal you?"

"Humph… This is a magic item to restrain my overwhelming power… If you pull it off, a gigantic disaster will befall the world…"

"Oh… So it's something like a seal?"

"I made that up. This is just a normal eye-patch. It just looks nice… Ah, sorry… Please don't pull on that, stop!"

"Eh… Listen Kazuma, Crimson Demons are born with high intellect and strong magic power, with most of them having the potential to become very powerful mages. They're well known for their red eyes and their strange names."

Aqua explained as Kazuma pulled on Megumin's eye-patch.

… Okay, I understand. It's just that listening to her name and seeing that eye-patch… I thought she was teasing me.

Kazuma released the eye-patch and she said sternly:

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

"… Right, may I ask for your parents' names?"

"My mother's Yuiyui, and my father's Hyoizaburo."

"…"

Both Aqua and Kazuma were completely silent.

"… Anyway, the Crimson Demon race produces many powerful mages, right? Could we recruit her as a companion?"

"Hey, if you've got a problem with the names of my parents, say it to my face!"

As Megumin leaned forward, Aqua returned the adventurer's card to her.

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

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

As Megumin protested, Kazuma handed the food menu to her.

"Don't mind the details, order something to eat. My name's Kazuma, and this is Aqua. Pleased to meet you, Arch-mage."

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

Part 5

"I'll demonstrate you the true power of the Detonation series. I'll defeat this frog by only using one of the Beginner spells of the series! That's how strong the Detonation series is!"

They brought Megumin who'd eaten her fill along for round two against the giant frogs.

They could see a frog at a distance on the plains. The beast had already noticed them and was charging their way. In addition, there was another frog heading toward them from the opposite direction, but still quite far away.

The frog closest to them kept approaching, but Megumin stood her ground. When it reached close enough, she pointed her staff and shouted:

"Blast!"

The tip of Megumin's staff flashed for a second, and the glint emitted from the tip of Megumin's staff launched off, falling on the place the frog had just landed on. The ground were the spell landed erupted with a 'boom', raising itself to reach it's target. The attack hit the frog just on it's lower side, and in fact it was a one-shot kill.

The lower part of the frogs body had been completely blown, with a hole left in it's place. The upper part had been saved from the attack, but that wast enough to save the frogs life from slipping away.

Kazuma could only stare in awe at the show of power. Something that made Megumin very happy with her spell's performance.

"… Incredible–so this is magic."

The frog that was far away didn't show any sings of stopping and in fact, another one was fast approaching from another side.

"… And now… I'll take on the other one with the most powerful spell of the Detonation series: Explosion. It won't be in it's final form because I used some mana in Detonate beforehand, but it will be still enough to destroy this frog. Explosion's the strongest offensive spell after all! On the other hand, it has a long casting time. Please keep that other frog at bay until I'm ready."

"Okay, then please target the frog further away. As for the nearer one… Hey, let's go, Aqua. We'll prove to them our true strength this time. You're a former goddess, right? How about showing what you're made of?"

"What do you mean by 'former'? I'm a current goddess! My position of an Arch-priest's just a disguise!"

Megumin looked at the self-proclaimed goddess choking Kazuma and questioned. "… Goddess?"

"… Just a pitiful woman claiming to be a goddess. She'll say stuff like this from time to time, so please don't mind her."

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

Aqua was on the verge of tears and made a pout.

"You're saying all that, but you wouldn't be able to defeats the frogs without my help!" Yeah and I hate that…

"Sure, sure. You're right Aqua. But right now we have more important things to do, don't you think?" Wait… maybe she doesn't think most of the time…

"Of course! Let me show you the power of a goddess! Kazuma, watch this carefully! Sure I haven't done anything great yet, but as long as you have me here, we'll definitely succeed today!"

Aqua, who apparently did posses the ability to learn, moved further away from the frog and began shouting and casting multiple buff's on Kazuma.

Megumin also stepped back, as the frogs were relatively close to them, so considering that Explosion was so strong, it would probably reach them if they stood to close.

Powered up, Kazuma leaped at the frog who had just finished a jump of it's own. He reached it's head and stabbed as hard as he could. Lucky for him, he landed a critical hit on the frog. The monster dropped dead in just one hit.

… Just then, the air around Megumin started to tremble.

Even a novice to magic like Kazuma could tell that Megumin was preparing to use some truly remarkable magic this time.

Megumin's chanting grew louder as sweat fell from her temples.

"Watch closely! This is the strongest attack spell known to humans… The ultimate attack spell."

The tip of Megumin's staff started to glow. Instead this time the light remained on Megumin's staff while she chanted. The scale might've been small, but it seemed to accumulate a vast amount of light as it shone brightly. Megumin's red eye shone with a brilliant light.

"Explosion!"

A light flashed through the plains. The light emitted from the tip of Megumin's staff shot forward, this time hitting the frog dead on. The violent effect of the spell was seen immediately.

A dazzling light filled Kazuma's vision as the frog was blown to pieces with a reverberating bang. He felt like he could be almost blown away by the strong wind. He covered his face and braced himself as best as he could.

After the dust settled, a crater fifteen meters in diameter revealed where the frog had been, showing how powerful the explosion was.

"… Amazing! So this is the true strength of magic…"

As Kazuma was feeling moved by the power of Megumin's spell, another frog slowly climbed out from underground, probably awakened by the shock wave and sound of the explosion.

Kazuma had been thinking that without rain and a water source in the plains, the frogs would dry up under the hot sun. It turned out that they burrowed underground to avoid baking alive.

The frog climbing out was near Megumin, but its movements were very slow, probably disoriented from the strong blast.

If we used this chance to move away from the frog and let Megumin use her spells again, we could blow the frog into cinders.

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

Kazuma looked over at Megumin and his body turned stiff…

Because Megumin was lying face down on the ground.

"Humph… Explosion's my ultimate spell. It's powerful and uses a lot of mana. Adding that to my other spell I spent all of it. Simply put, the mana I used exceeded my limit, so I can't move. Ah, to think that a frog would appear out of nowhere… No good, I'll be eaten. Sorry, please save me. Hya…!"

Kazuma ran over from the corpse of the frog he killed and over to were Megumin lied.

Oh, not good! I won't reach her in time!

Megumin's body was eaten by the giant frog, who stopped all of it's movement. A shocked Aqua saw Kazuma charging to safe Megumin from her cruel fate and buffed him more. Aqua internally thanked Kazuma for saving her before (and not begrudgingly surprisingly). She definitively was saved from a terrible experience that time.

And so, they completed the mission to defeat five giant frogs in three days. With two more frogs that they needed to. So it was worth it, right?

Part 6

"It's smelly inside the frog, but the warm feeling isn't too bad… I gained some knowledge that I'd rather not know…"

Megumin, covered in goo and being carried on Kazuma's back, told him something he never wanted to learn.

If someone used magic that exceeded his or her mana capacity, it'd drain his or her life force to make up for the difference. Using powerful spells with your mana depleted might even lead to death. Thankfully, Megumin using other spells and wasting mana didn't hurt her when casting Explosion, instead just made the Explosion size and potency weaker. It still used a lot of mana, much more than she had. So she ended immobile, but thankfully not hurt.

"From now on, Explosion is banned unless there's an emergency. And I also doubt many spells in the Detonation series are that safe, specially in certain situations. So please try to get by with your other spells from now on, Megumin."

After hearing what he said, Megumin grabbed his shoulders harder.

"… Do I really have to?"

"… Huh? What's wrong?"

Kazuma questioned Megumin's words. She grabbed even harder and pressed her lacking chest onto his back.

"… I can only use spells from the Detonation series. I don't know any other magic."

"… Wait, are you serious?"

"… Yes."

As Megumin and Kazuma turned silent, Aqua, who was trailing behind them, joined in their discussion.

"Wait, you mean you only focus on the Detonation series? But if you had enough skill points to learn even Explosion, you must've learned spells from other branches at least once, right?"

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

Seeing that he was confused, Aqua explained to Kazuma:

"Skill points are something you earn when you choose a job; it's used to learn skills. The more potential a person has, the more skill points they start out with. You can learn all sorts of skills by investing skill points in them. For example, the excellent me has learned all the banquet party tricks as well as all the spells of an Arch-priest."

"… Where are you going to use banquet party tricks?"

Aqua pretended not to hear his 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… However, as detonation series magic consists of composite spells, you'd 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. Specially from the fire and wind branches respectively.

"This means that this girl is purposefully focusing only on the detonation-series… Anyway, where can you make use of banquet party tricks?"

Megumin mumbled when he finished my sentence:

"… I'm an Arch-mage that loves the detonation series magic but especially Explosion. How could I not like the ultimate form of my beloved series? That's right not only do I love the detonation series, but I love Explosion the most."

Really, what does it matter if it's the detonation spells or Explosion? I don't get it at all.

Aqua listened to Megumin's monologue with a serious face. Compared to that, Kazuma was very distracted by the banquet party tricks.

"Adventures will definitely be easier if I learn other spells. Fire, water, earth, wind and light… Learning spells related to this would be quite helpful… But my detonation spells are definitely the strongest of all of them, and that makes them enough to go by! They're still super useful, not only sometimes, but all the time!"

"And you're asking me to ban my dear series and my loved Explosion? I simply cannot do it. My only love is the detonation series, and Explosion is the one I love the most! Even though I can only cast it once per day, even if I'll collapse after using the spell, my one true love is still Explosion! The only reason I chose the path of the Arch-mage was to not only to cast the detonation series spells, but the explosion spells!"

"Incredible! Great! Your resolve to follow your romantic dreams despite knowing it's inefficient really moved me!"

… Oh no, it seemed like this mage was going to be problematic. The best evidence is her hitting it off with Aqua.

After two battles with the frogs, the usefulness of this goddess had more than being proved. She had been essential in hunting the frogs, and Kazuma was really grateful to her for that. (Though he would never tell her so)

Still, she had been quite stubborn and problematic since they arrived. When he'd been looking for an inn she had embarrassed herself in the guild by telling a priest she was a goddess. A priest of the Eris faith no less. (Yeah, the one that also has a currency)

That adding other bad behavior, and how bad she had treated him in the afterlife… Still, I guess it could've been worse…

Even so, quite honestly, just Aqua alone is troublesome enough. If another one were to join in…

But she's also really powerful, and while she might be a bit unreliable, she still could be an invaluable asset…

All right, I made up my mind.

"I see. I think this will be a difficult path, so do work hard. We'll be there if you need us. Ah, I can see the town. Yes, don't worry, we'll definitively meet again and ask for your assistance in special quest's, but for now… Let's divide the rewards equally at the guild."

Megumin grabbed him harder just after he finished.

"Humph… My only wish is to use detonation magic. The bounty's just a complementary bonus. How about this: I don't need an even share of the rewards. If you're 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-mage 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, while search for you if you wish to take on some missions, our weak team isn't worthy of a long-term contract such amazing power. That's right, it's too much to ask Megumin to stay in our team full-time with your amazing powers. A team just starting out should make do with a normal mage and ask the assistance of an Arch-mage only in special missions. I mean, look at me. My job's even the weakest one, Adventurer."

To chase away Megumin, who was grabbing on to him tightly when we reached the guild, Kazuma attempted to loosen her grip. Nevertheless, Megumin refused to let go.

"No, no, no, it doesn't matter if you're novices or weak. I might have a top-tier job, but I'm still a beginner too. My level's just twelve, and since most of it was with the assistance of other teams, I'm not actually that experienced. When my level grows more, I won't collapse after using my spells. So let's talk this over, and then you may pull my hand away, okay?"

"No, no, no, it's too hard to utilize a mage that's so stubborn about her spells and refuses to let go of her spell that she can only cast once a day. Ugh, she's a mage but her grip's strong…! Let go, the other teams probably didn't want you either. Or rather, one can't use the detonation spells in dungeons or indoors, which would render you pretty much useless. Hey, release your grip! I'll split the rewards equally with you, so please let go!"

"Please don't ditch me! No team's willing to take me! I'm willing to carry the luggage or anything when exploring dungeons, so please don't throw me away!"

It was probably because Megumin was on Kazuma's back yelling, 'Don't throw me away', that the passersby started whispering while looking at them. Because they were in town and Aqua's appearance already drew a lot of attention, it made them 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 trash. Look, why is there goo covering the little girl? What weird sexual game did that pervert make her do?"

… The passersby maligned him. Aqua smiled deviously upon hearing them. How hateful.

Megumin seemed to have heard their whispers too.

Kazuma looked at Megumin who was peeking over my shoulder, only to see a malicious smile showing on her face…

"I'm fine with any sort of play! Even using the frog's slime just like now is okay…"

"I tried really hard to prevent that from happening to you, you know?! Ugh! All right–I get it! Megumin, we'll be in your care! But you better learn to use your spells better okay?"

Part 7

"All right, everything's in order. I've confirmed that your team has finished the quest of defeating 5 giant frogs in 3 days, and that you also killed two more. Good work."

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

Since Megumin was covered in slime, and Aqua somehow managed to fall on some mud, they'd be too smelly and dirty if they didn't wash up. Since it might cause misunderstandings for him, Kazuma shooed them both off to the bath house.

One of the frogs we defeated disintegrated because of the explosion magic, and the other one had half of it's body blown off, so Kazuma feared it might've affected the completion of the quest. But the type and number of monsters defeated were recorded on the adventurer's card, so there were no problems.

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

Things developed in this world used magic instead of science, so the technological level of this world was quite advanced.

Kazuma looked at his card again and saw that e was at level 5.

I heard that those frogs were great for novice adventurers to grind levels. I defeated 5 frogs by myself, enough to raise my level to 5.

It was easier for low-leveled people to level up.

All the stats on the card increased slightly, but Kazuma didn't feel myself getting any stronger.

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

He mumbled to himself.

The counter lady did mention that when she explained it in the beginning. All things in this 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 was what she said.

This was the part that felt like a video game.

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

Just by spending these points, he could learn skills.

"Well then, turning in 4 giant frogs, in addition to receiving the bounty for completing the quest, comes to a total of 120,000 eris. Please take this."

120,000.

These giant frogs yielded 5,000 eris after deducting transport fees. And the bounty for the 5 frogs was 100,000 eris.

Aqua told him that quests were completed with a team of 4 to 6 adventurers.

So for normal adventurers, risking your life to fight 5 frogs for a couple of days would yield about 125,000 eris. For a 5-man team, that would be 25,000 eris each.

… It wasn't worth it.

Finishing the mission in one day meant a daily salary of at least 25,000.

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

If another frog had shown up and eaten me, the three of us would've been wiped out.

That sent a chill down his spine.

He looked at the other quests. The ones on the bulletin board were–

– Cut down the evil trees corrupting the forest, bounty's 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 wasn't easy to survive in this world.

Kazuma felt like returning to Japan on his second day of adventuring.

"… Excuse me, may I ask…?"

Just when Kazuma was getting a little homesick as he sat down on a chair nearby, someone spoke to him from behind.

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

"Is something the matter…?"

Kazuma was left speechless when he saw the person talking to me.

She was a female knight.

She was a super beautiful female knight.

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

She was a bit taller than he was.

His height was 165 cm. A bit taller than him 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 him.

Kazuma couldn't tell her body shape from her armor, but he felt that she was very curvy.

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

… Ah. This isn't good, I am entranced.

"Ah, eh–what's the matter?"

Facing Aqua, who was about his age, and Megumin, who was younger than him, was fine for the teenage Kazuma, but this beauty slightly older than him made him stutter. That was the bad point about living the life of a shut-in for an extended period.

"Um… The team that put up this recruitment notice was you, right? Are you still looking for people?"

The female knight showed him a piece of paper. Indeed, they didn't tear away that notice after Megumin joined their party.

"Oh–we're still hiring. Although I wouldn't recommend you joining…"

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

When Kazuma was about to reject her tactfully, the female knight suddenly grabbed his hand.

… Eh?

"No, no, no, hold up. Our party has plenty of problems; the other two members are burdens many times and my job's the weakest. Because of that, one of my companion was covered in slime… Ow! Ow! Ow!"

When he mentioned the slime, the female knight tightened her grip on his hand.

"I was right, that girl covered in goo was your comrade! And that dirty girl must have been too! What happened, how'd they end up like that…!? I-I also…! Want to experience that…!"

"Huh?"

What did she just say?

"No, I phrased it wrongly. For the two young girls to experience that at such a tender age… as a knight, I can't stand by and watch. My job's the top-tier Crusader, so it should fit your recruitment criteria."

What was with this female knight? Her eyes look dangerous. I thought she was a calm and collected big sister! But my danger radar was acting up.

She gave off the same feeling as Aqua and Megumin.

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

"Ara–I didn't finish. I really don't recommend you joining. One of our party members is… well… useless. Yeah useless!" Kazuma attempted to discourage her by lying about them. Well, Aqua did act quite useless so…

"A-and the other refuses to listen to reason and… and can 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's perfect! To be honest, I'm confident in my strength and durability. And I've also trained a lot in my task of defending others and dealing with monsters… So I can hit the enemy and protect you…"

Hey whats this? She actually followed the correct path of a crusader and is a good tank while dealing consistent damage? Does she not follow stupid self made restrictions or spend points on useless abilities? Is this girl the teammate I've been looking to? Could this be… the perfect…

"B-but you don't need to treat me as having a top-tier job. You can just make use of me as you see fit! In fact, I'll just charge ahead without a care, so abuse me like a shield!"

Oh. Maybe not.

His reasoning was cut short when the female knight shoved her pretty face in front of him.

Her face is too close!

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

My time as a shut-in is affecting me again…! No, this is simply too stimulating for an adolescent virgin boy, making me uneasy. Calm down, don't get seduced by her charm and promises of a good teammate! Ugh, she's very pretty… N-no!

"No, how can I let a girl act like a shield? Right now my party's super weak, so the attacks 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 companion was eaten by a frog and covered in slime! This might happen every day!"

"That's exactly what I want!"

… Oh, I get it.

The blushing pretty female knight who was holding his hand. Looking at her, Kazuma understood something.

… This girl may be super useful, but her character was rotten to the core.

…

…

Why are my choice of partners following the same pattern?

Well… It could've been worse…

Right?