CHAPTER 3 - PART 1 & 2

Adding fresh goddess juice into the lake!

Part 1

"Have you heard? Rumor says that a boss of the demon king army had taken over an old castle which is situated in the hills a short walk from town."

In the corner of the bar operated by the guild.

I was listening to a man sitting at my table and drinking during the day.

I am not drinking beer though, but Neroid swish.

What is Neroid.

What is swish.

I only tried it out of curiosity since the people told me this was the non alcoholic beverage of choice among patrons…

If you ask me if it was good, I could only answer it this way:

… Erm, I don't know.

But I know what swish meant.

It's the texture you feel when you drink it.

This wasn't a carbonated drink. I don't really get what the swish texture was, but this feeling could only be described as swish.

I finished the Neroid and place the cup on the table…

"A boss from the demon king army. That sounds bad, but it had nothing to do with us."

"That's right."

The man before me agreed with my negative and irresponsible words.

The number of people chatting in the Adventurers guild was unexpectedly large and I could hear many interesting topics.

For example spotting dangerous monsters at some place so do not take quests from that area.

I had a hard time just surviving since coming to this world, and had never gathered intelligence in this way before.

Collecting information was the most important stage in collecting the flags you had raised.

Gathering and talking about such things in a bar had a feeling of an adventurer, which made me happy.

The man sitting opposite me said:

"Anyway, it's better not to approach the abandoned castle to the north of town. This is not the capital of the kingdom, so who knows what the boss of the demon army is doing here. But since it is a boss, it is probably a Lord Ogre, vampire, arch demon or dragon. No matter which one it is, it must be a monster that could kill us instantly. The best way is to not take any quest near that abandoned castle."

Or news of certain monster hating the smell of tangerine juice, so smearing it on you will keep them away.

After thanking that man, I left my seat and returned to the table my party was at…

"…What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Aqua, Darkness and Megumin took small mouthfuls of the vegetable sticks in the cup in the center of the table as they stared at me.

"Nothing–? I wasn't worried about Kazuma joining another party or anything."

Aqua said as she looked at me with uneasy eyes.

"…? Eh, I was only gathering information, that is the basics of adventurers."

I took a seat at their table and reached for a vegetable stick.

Dodge.

The vegetable stick dodged my out reached hand.

… Hey.

"What are you doing Kazuma."

Aqua slammed the table, making the vegetable stick jump in surprise.

When the vegetable sticks were in the air momentarily, Aqua grabbed one and stuffed it in her mouth.

"… Hmm. You looked so happy. You seemed to be having fun chatting, Kazuma. You seemed close to the members of the other parties huh?"

Megumin slammed the table with her fist, and picked up the vegetable stick that was too scared to move and shoved it in her mouth.

"… What is this refreshing feeling? Seeing Kazuma being on good terms with the other parties, the melancholic feeling is mixed with something good… Could this be the legendary NTR…?"

That crazy pervert who was spilling nonsense flicked the edge of the cup with her finger and took a vegetable stick nimbly.

"What is this, what is with you all? Isn't collecting intelligence in such a place the basics…?"

I hit the table as I spoke and reached for the vegetable sticks…

Dodge.

"... What is with this dodging—-!"

"St, stop–! What are you doing to my vegetable sticks! No, don't destroy the food!"

My hand that failed to grab the vegetable stick took the cup containing the sticks instead, holding it high as I prepare to throw it against the wall. But Aqua who was on the verge of tears restrained my hand.

"How dare a mere vegetable look down on me! It's a bit wrong to retort so late, but why could the vegetable run. Could you please serve food that is already dead!?"

"What are you talking about. Be it fish or vegetable, it taste better if it is fresher right? Haven't you heard of killing it fresh and serving it on the spot?"

Then kill it before serving it.

I gave up on eating the vegetable sticks and said:

"Hai… forget it, let's ignore the vegetable for now, I have something important to ask you. I was thinking about what skills to learn after leveling up. To be honest, the composition of this party is too unbalanced. So I'm thinking of making up for our weakness since I have the most flexible job… By the way, what skills have you all learned?"

That's right, to improve the efficiency of taking harder quests, it was important to consider the teamwork of the party before learning skills.

That's what I thought when I came to discuss things with them, but…

"My skills are centered around 'Physical Defense', 'Magical Resistance' and 'Abnormal Status Resistance'. I have a skill called 'Bait', used to taunt the enemy."

"… Don't you plan to learn something like '2-handed sword' to increase your attack accuracy?"

"I don't plan to. It might sound like I am boasting, but my stamina and strength are great. If my attacks land easily, I could easily defeat monsters without taking damage. And it's not good to hold back intentionally. It should be like this… Attacking with all my might but couldn't hit the enemy, and being captured as my strength wanes, that is the best."

"Enough, you shut up."

"… Hmmmhmm…! You are the one who asked, but to treat me like this…"

I decided to ignore Darkness who was panting with a red face.

I looked at Megumin who tilted her head and said:

"Of course I learned explosion related skills, 'Explosion', 'Explosion Damage Increase' and 'Fast Chanting' et cetera. All the skills to cast the perfect explosion spell. It was the same before, and will of course be so in the future."

"… No matter what, you have no intention of learning something like mid tier magic?"

"I don't plan to."

This fellow won't do either…

"As for me…"

"There is no need."

"Eheh?"

Aqua was planning to explain her skills, but I shut her up immediately.

It's just party tricks, party tricks and party tricks anyway.

And so…

"Why can't this party get its act together… Maybe I should think about switching parties…"

"!" x 3

My soft mumbling surprised the three of them.

Part 2

A few days after the emergency cabbage hunt quest.

All the cabbage captured back then had been sold.

And the adventurers got their bounties.

"Kazuma, look. I earned a lot, so I tried enhancing the armor I sent in for repair… How is it?"

Inside the incredibly crowded adventurers guild filled with people collecting their bounties, Darkness showed me the armor she got back from the repair shop happily.

If I want to put it simply…

"This armor look like something an upstart son of nobility would wear."

"… Kazuma is merciless no matter the time and place. Even I would want to hear an honest compliment some time."

Darkness said with a dejected expression.

How would I know?

Anyway…

"There is someone even more problematic than you, so I don't have the time. Could you please take care of that pervert who is becoming worse than you?"

"Huff… huff… I can't, can't take it! The magic powers from this staff made from manatite, the color and glister… huff… huff…"

Megumin was hugging her pimped up staff and grinding her face against it.

Manatite is a rare metal said to have special properties. Adding it in when making a staff would increase the power of spells.

After strengthening her staff with her earnings, Megumin had been acting this way.

I heard the power of the explosion spell would increase by dozen or so percent.

Why are you increasing the power of the explosion magic that was already over powered?

Instead of doing that, shouldn't you learn magic that would be more convenient? I had plenty things like that which I wanted to say, but I don't really want to care about the current Megumin, so I decided to ignore her.

I am already satisfied after collecting my rewards.

Darkness who attracted the monsters who came because of the cabbage.

Megumin who destroyed those monsters with a single spell.

And Aqua who chased the cabbage on her own without caring about these two.

We decided not to split the earnings from the cabbage hunt and collect our own bounties.

The one who suggested that was Aqua whose harvest was only second to mine.

And that person was waiting for her turn to collect the money, but…

"What did you say–? Wait, what is this?"

Aqua's voice reverberated through the guild.

Hai… I hate this…

As expected, Aqua was arguing with the person manning the counter.

She grabbed the collar of the counter lady and was protesting something.

"Why is there only 50,000 Eris! You know how many cabbage I caught? It's more than 20!"

"Erm, this is hard to say…"

"What!"

"… What Aqua-san turned in was mostly lettuce…"

"… Why was lettuce mixed in there!"

"Even if you ask me that, I won't know!"

From their conversation, there seemed to be a problem with the bounty.

Aqua probably realized there was no use in arguing with the counter lady, Aqua put her hands behind her and approached me with a smile.

"Ka~zuma-san! How much did you get from this quest?"

"A bit more than a million."

"Million!" x3

Aqua, Darkness and Megumin was stunned beyond words.

That's right, I earned my first bucket of gold from the sudden quest.

The cabbages I caught were mostly high grade cabbage that yield plenty of experience points.

This is the difference in the luck stat.

"Kazuma-sama–! How should I put this, I always thought you are a great person!"

"Don't push yourself if you can't think about how to compliment me. Let me say this first, I already decided how to utilize the money, so I won't give you any."

After hearing me interrupt her, Aqua's smile stiffened.

"Kazuma-san–! I thought I would earn a lot from the quest, so I spent all the money on me in the past few days! I estimated I would make a killing, so I owed nearly a hundred thousand Eris in this bar! I can't pay it off with the bounty!"

I pulled Aqua who was crying as she clinged on me off. I wondered why can't this girl think things through carefully as I pressed on my temples.

"I don't care, you are the one who wanted 'everyone to keep their own earnings'. Anyway, I should find a base for myself. It's uncomfortable to keep staying in the stables right?"

Normally, adventurers won't buy a house.

Because adventurers do not seek stability and traveled a lot.

There were few successful adventurers, most of them make only enough to get by, which was one of the reason.

To be honest, it is impossible to take down the demon king with these members, so I am on the verge of giving up.

The job of fighting the demon king army should be left to the people sent here before me who had gotten powerful abilities and equipment.

After all, I had the basic job anyone could take, the weakest job, an adventurer.

And unlike those who had trained to be adventurers from the beginning, all my stats are low, I am really a commoner you could find anywhere.

After adventuring in a safe place to satisfy my curiosity, I would be satisfied spending my days leisurely.

Hence, I am planning to find a small house to rent, and buy if it was cheap enough.

Aqua looked like she was going to cry as she grabbed onto me tightly.

"Why did it turn out like this ahhhh! Please Kazuma, lend me money! Just enough to pay off my debts! I know Kazuma is a boy and you would do sneaky things in the stables some times, so I understand why you want a private room! 50,000! Just 50,000 is enough! Please–!"

"I get it, 50,000 is just chump change! I really get it so shut up!"