CHAPTER 1 - PART 3

– Under the clear blue sky.

"Ah! Help! Aqua, save me…!"

"Puhehe! This is hilarious! Kazuma, your face is all red and you have tears in your eyes! You look really desperate!"

Okay, I'll bury this girl before going back.

As I made up my mind, I continued to run and scream for help as a giant frog-like monster chased me.

This was the open plain outside of town.

We took a quest from the guild in the morning and headed there.

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

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

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 and me 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 the small and exterminated monsters near town.

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 skilful adventurers like to hunt them, but…

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

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

"Aqua-sama–!"

I'll bury this girl all the way, only leaving her head above ground. I'll let her know the horror of frogs targeting you.

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

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

Before the frog was…

"Can't be helped–! All right, I'll save you, hikiNEET! However, 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… Ugh?"

Aqua, who had been puffing her chest out and rambling on about something, disappeared.

I turned my head and saw that the frog had stopped moving.

Something blue was dangling from the corner of its mouth.

That blue thing was…

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

Aqua, eaten by the frog, had one spasming leg dangling out of its mouth.

I drew my short sword and charged at the frog!

"Sob… Ugh, ugh– WAHHH…!"

Covered in sticky frog fluid, Aqua was hugging her knees while sitting on the ground before me, sobbing.

Beside her was the frog, its head smashed in.

"Ugh… Sob… Thank, thank you… Kazuma, thank you…! WAHHH…!"

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

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

"Are… Are you okay, Aqua? Be strong… 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 dressed more like adventurers."

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

If the frog had attacked me without hesitation, I wouldn't have had the courage to face it.

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

"Ugh… For a goddess like me to be humiliated by a frog; how can we retreat? I'm already defiled. If a believer sees how dirty I am… Their faith will most certainly plummet! If people knew that I ran from frogs, it'd be a disgrace to the name of the beautiful Goddess Aqua!"

You didn't have worry about that. You carried several times more construction materials at the work site than the men did, whilst looking happy working. Your greatest joy was eating dinner after taking a bath; you were sleeping so soundly that you even drooled while sleeping in the stables beside me. After seeing the way you conduct yourself, being covered in goo isn't too much.

However, before I could stop her, Aqua charged toward another frog in the distance.

"Ah! Hey, hold up, Aqua!"

Aqua ignored my voice, drawing closer to the frog and using her momentum to throw a punch at its belly.

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

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

Her fist sunk into the soft abdomen, while the frog seemed unaffected…

Aqua meekly looked the frog in the eye and said softly:

"… Looking closely… frogs are actually quite cute, right?"

… I defeated a second giant frog that stopped moving as it attempted to swallow its prey. The adventure for today ended with me bringing a wailing goddess covered in slime back to town.