Pain, something you would expect, surprisingly absent

What I did feel was worry for my friends. Only shortly before I had been riding in my friends car, finally being able to meet with them after graduation and moving away. We had been heading back towards Colby's house, however a particularly distracted driver never saw the red light, and my friend Isabel never expected it. Colby, Isabel, Hayley, my friends, were they dead? Did they survive? My thoughts were interrupted by a girl's voice.

"Christopher Davis"

My Head snapped in the direction of the voice. There was nothing but the void all around me, except for the single throne with a blue-haired familiar looking girl standing in between me and the throne. Now even more questions flooded my mind, one of them being: Konosuba is real!? My mind began running at a mile a minute, coming up with questions to ask the girl in front of me.

"It would seem you have died, you were stuck by a truck in an intersection and were killed instantly. My apologies, but it seems you have lived a full life. Considering you only had 18 years. My name is aqua, and it is my job as a goddess to lead you to the afterlife, or re-incarnate you" Now that my focus was on aqua, her appearance looked exactly the same as the show, except she was 3 dimensional. Her striking blue hair, blue eyes, skirt, and the gravity defying pink ribbon all re-assured my suspicions, I was in Konosuba. She certainly was beautiful, but I had more pressing matters to adress.

"What about my friends? Did they survive?" I needed to know, I had to know

"No, I'm sorry, but they've all already been through me, your friends Isabel and Hayley have gone to heaven. Colby was...uh" she stopped, seeming to try to find her words, but I already knew what she was going to say "He was reincarnated...somewhere else."

"Oh I see" I say with sorrow, knowing I would never see two of my friends again did dampen my spirits. However something she said confused me. "you said I died instantly right? So why am I the last one you've seen?" That question visibly struck the goddess.

"Oh right" she said pushing her two index fingers together "Its because of how you died" what did she mean by that? "you had seen the truck an instant before it hit, and you died from the shock, not the impact. Because of that, you took the lowest priority, Don't worry though, it was such a short interval of time they would never suspect you died from shock." she was now back to her usual calm demeanor, at least she wasn't laughing at me. So first I find out Konosuba is real, and then I find out I died the same way kazuma did. I let out an audible sigh.

"You seem rather calm" Aqua told me, "most in your situation, including some of your friends would be freaking out by now."

"Well, I don't want to die from another heart attack do I?" The goddess snickers at my poorly worded joke.

Aqua coughed "As I said before I am here to either send you to heaven, or re-incarnate you in your own world and you can start over from square one. However seeing as how I told you where your friend Colby was, I might as well tell you that I can send you to another world to defeat a horrible warlord that has been terrorizing the land for many years, the demon king." the presentation was probably a lot less dramatic for mr because I knew she would say that, so playing dumb I decide to ask her another question.

"What is this other world like?" Aqua immediately answered saying it was like a fantasy RPG, of course knowing this I then ask "What would I be sent with?" Aqua says that she can send me with holy relics of gods and goddesses, or she cans end me with something of my own desire, as long as It isn't too overpowered. I notice that she said too overpowered instead of just overpowered. "I want to be re-incarnated in this new world." Immediately the floor was almost filled with cads that described different skills, armors, and weapons with quite ridiculous abilities. For example, one of the pieces was a helmet that when equipped immediately produced a suit of armor over your body strong enough to withstand whatever attack your enemy could manage. Or an ability to turn invisible for as much time as needed. It all looked quite tempting.

"Are you going to pick something or not?" Aqua was now in her throne and had produced a bag of chips. She was sitting and eating like someone that was watching a marathon on Netflix. There was the attitude she's most famous for, and not wanting to agitate her more, or waste anymore time I stand up, my face full of confidence, and determination in my eyes. She didn't move, but instead paused, ready to grant my wish, just not enthusiastic about it.

"I want the ability to forge anything I have materials to make, and that anything I make is of legendary quality." I say with the clearest voice I can manage so she doesn't mess up what I wished for. Aqua gets up from her position, and with a wave of her hand, all the cards are replaced with one magic circle that I am now the center of. I look at its design as it starts to glow with a light blue, and I feel my body start to lift off the ground. If you can even call it a ground at all.

Aqua beings "Very well, you wish has been granted, I wish you luck in your quest to defeat the demon king... uh..." she seems to have stopped, and I am now floating in mid air, probably looking like a retard. "I forgot your name" she says dumbly. I remind her that it's Christopher, and she continues "...in your quest to defeat the demon king Christopher, my blessings go to you brave adventurer."

Apparently the skill I chose had unforeseen consequences, as my brain was suddenly filled with smithing techniques, how to shape metals, folding, old techniques and new, how to make steel, pretty much everything anyone would want to know about smithing and forging. Its what I asked for, but I now had a migraine the size of Texas, and could barely see the scenery around me. I walk to the nearest wall, and slump down to try to not throw up. After who knows how long, I had finally recovered, and with the lack of pain I now notice that my hands and arms feel enriched and to a lesser degree powerful. Perhaps this is what the legendary quality skill or whatever feels like.

My mind goes back to What I was thinking of before I ever got transported here. "I need to find Colby" I said aloud, now able to see clearly I look around the town that I was dropped into, Axel. People around me seemed not to even notice my existence, and no one had stopped to see if I was ok, as earlier I was sure I was moaning at least a little bit. Market stands were busy with people that gathered around them. It looked exactly like the show, but at the same time it all looked real, it was quite astounding. Not necessarily the scenery itself, but just how much it looked like the show.

I walk up to what appears to be an apple vendor, and ask him if he had seen a black haired guy with a beard around here. "yea I did" The vendor answered me, "he asked me where he could sign up to be an adventurer, so I pointed him toward the adventurers guild. Why, you looking for him?" I answered yes, and he pointed me in the same direction. Swell guy.

It was strange to walk around with a T-shirt and jeans, among people in robes, and adventuring gear. I felt very out of place, a little embarrassed too, suddenly I became very self conscious of my walk, and stance. I had finally made it to the guild, and seeing the outside gave me an appreciation of the actual size of the building, and the craftsmanship that went into it. After I enter I immediately hit with the atmosphere of "bar and grill" the number of tables and benches In the guild tells me that the place gets packed at some point, probably at night. At the moment only a few tables were full, and the maids were doing more cleaning than serving. One maid told me that I can either sit down for some food and drink or I could go over to the receptionist desk to hand in quests, or sign up to be an adventurer. Acknowledging the maid I go to the familiar looking desk with the very familiar receptionist. She looked up from a book she was reading with a very pleasant smile.

"hello sir how may I help you?" Despite her friendly and welcoming manner I couldn't help but look down, she was wearing a white shirt held together with straps, but it was too short or something, because it was exposing a lot of her breasts, and breasts they were, triple D's at least. Her quite beautiful face combined with those "assets" made it hard to concentrate admittedly. With a blush on my face, I manage to look up at her and she looks back with the same smile from before, apparently she had not noticed me looking.

"I'm here looking for my friend, and to sign up with the guild." I said smoothly, it seems in almost any situation i'm in, more often that not I can keep my speech straight, even if I am talking to a beautiful girl with great tracks of land. I'm sure ill get used to it eventually.

She looks at me knowingly "Ok then, why don't we get you signed up first?" I nod "First I will need a registration fee." I freeze, I forgot about this, and I didn't have any money. I tell her I'd like to find my friend first. She gives me a knowing smile "its fine, so who's your friend?" I explain what he looks like, and tell her his name, and she instantly knows who I was talking about, and points toward a table with only one occupant. "I believe your both in the same boat so I wish you both the best!" I thank her and after looking, immediately recognize him, just by looking at the back of his head, and walk towards him.

"Colby!" I half yell as I get to his table, and his head pops up like a rocket as he looks to me with a huge smile on his face. His dark hair, and eyes are a pleasant sight as I meet my friend. "I thought I'd find you here" I tell him jokingly, and I also notice that his face seems to have relief on it too. I guess he was worried I wouldn't come to this world.

"Danny!" Colby exclaims, and he gets up quickly, as he give me a welcoming hug. Danny was common nickname that almost everyone called me by, really it kinda threw me off when aqua had called me by my real name. "are you ok? What kind of thing did you get from aqua? Do you have any money for signing up with the guild?" Colby barraged me with questions, all of which I can answer.

"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." He nodded in understanding as I sat down at the table. "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." He nodded and agreed, however some questions were on my mid as well. "Do you recognize this world, and what did you get from aqua?"

Colby responds, "I asked for these" and he pulls out two steel swords that has curvy carving on them, they looked much like sting from the lord of the rings. "they store energy every time you hit something, and can unleash that energy in one or two huge hits." While he was saying that, I looked right at the swords using my now extensive knowledge of forging I appraise the swords. The metal of the swords seemed to be of extremely fine quality, not much of a surprise, however aside from that I could practically see the magical power of the weapon in its craftsmanship. I don't think I could completely re-create the weapon, considering it was forged by gods, but I think I could get close, considering my new abilities. "So 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." His face lights up with realization, although Colby had never watched konosuba, he did watch anime, and I had briefly explained the plot to him once or twice, however he had never gotten the chance to watch it. This gave me a huge advantage in this world, as I already knew how the series of events go, and considering it was aqua and not Eris that mets us that means that kazuma hasn't done anything, and we could basically take his place.

I explain to Colby that I know the series of events that will transpire, at least up to the end of the second season, and that we have a huge advantage over other party's, and adventurers in general. We both got so exited we didn't realize that there was a maid trying to get our order. I finally realized, and explained we didn't want anything. After talking for another thirty minutes or so, and deciding what jobs we would look for we left the guild. Colby decided he would try to look for a spot at the library, while I would get a job at the blacksmith, and we would meet back at the guild tonight. It would be easy for both of us to get said jobs, with my new abilities, and Colby having basic organizing skills, and being able to read, opposed to the majority of most other people in town.

After asking around for some directions, I found myself in a large cobblestone building that was roughly the size of a barn. All for good reasons, with forging techniques came the safety measures someone needed to take before, during, and after smithing. "hello there, what can I do for you son?" asked a long bearded dwarf that was behind the counter, he wore a basic shirt, some pants, and an apron. There was another man there that was polishing armor behind the counter, obviously the more high quality stuff. I was a little disappointed that the dwarf's accent was non-existent, but I walked up to him, and asked for a position at his shop. "A job eh? Well do you have any smithing experience? If not, I can still put you to work as manual labor."

"I have some" I understated, and he took me into the back where the forge was, and man what a forge. There was the obvious forge, oven, and tools that you'd expect in a blacksmith's shop. But there was also a basic hammer machine, pretty expensive stuff for this age. He gave me an ingot of bronze, and thanks to my knowledge I was able to identify all the metals in the forge, and In the shop. Back in the shop most of his items were either made of iron or steel, most of decent quality, but I could undoubtedly do better, I think. "you just want me to make something?" I ask

"Yep, I find appraising someones smithing skills is best done by observing their techniques, and their actual products, not some test on paper like some other smiths do. Just show me what you can do with that son, and we'll see about you position here." I like this guy, very hands on, so I grab an apron from a hook on the wall and start to get to work, first I flatten the ingot, and then Begin to temper it, and fold it. I was going quite slowly, and the shopkeep notices, while I work I ask for his name, he says his name is Borthul, thats expected, he might not have the accent, but he has the name. Something about smithing just felt so natural to my muscles, it has to be the abilities I was given, while my muscles felt natural, my mind did not, this was technically the first time I had forged something. I decided I didn't want to make it too good of a sword, he might see me as competition and throw me out. I finish my project, a basic gladius style sword with a pine hilt that he also had me make. It looked really good, and I was very impressed with myself.

"Not bad at all, uh, what was your name?" I chuckle and tell him it's Christopher, but he can call me Danny as a nickname. "huh ok then, well Danny this sword looks very impressive, now lets see how it performs." Borthul takes me to a separate part of the show with what appear to be straw test dummies lined up inside. He picks one, and takes a swing with my sword, It nearly cleaves the thing in half, then I notice the wooden pillar inside it, that was cut perfectly with Borthul's swing. I stand, stunned at my own work, and he looks back at me with a glare. I get scared, is he going to throw me out? Is it too good of a sword? "When can you start?" his response takes me off guard, but I tell him today. For the rest of the day he has me making steel swords, axes, and various other weapons, and even some armor. Finally he tells me "You can leave whenever you like, and come in whenever you like, ill even let you keep the bronze sword you made earlier, but on one condition" I wait for his condition "Everything you make for me goes under my name" I think about it, but I accept, I don't really care about reputation at the moment, and really this is the best deal for me too. So I leave for the day with my sword, and a healthy payment for my high quality work.

As I enter the guild it is much more lively than it was earlier, most tables were now taken, and the maids were barely keeping up with all the orders that they were being given. I spot Colby by himself at a two seater, as all the bigger tables were already taken, and we did not need them. I greet him and sit down at the table "how did it go?" Colby's the first one to ask that question.

"Really well" I take out my sword, and a small bag of coins. "I made this sword and he paid me for making a few other weapons, and pieces of armor. What about you?" I ask him as he looks at my sword, seemingly impressed with it, and surprised at the amount of gold I made. We both counted the money we made, and we found that I was paid 1,230 Eris for just what I forged, while Colby only made 120 Eris at the library. A good portion my income is probably just from him paying me for letting him put his name on all my stuff. In order to save money for proper equipment we decided it would be best to use Colby's income for food, and save mine for future use. With one exception...

Both me and Colby walked over to the receptionist desk, and I see her there cleaning the desk. I suddenly realize I didn't know her name, as they don't say it that often in the show, and I hadn't asked her earlier. "Um, excuse me miss? I didn't get your name earlier."

She turns around with a tired look, but smiles anyway. "My name is Luna, wait..." She looks at us again, and remembers who we are "Oh! Do you have enough money to cover the expenses?"

I smile confidently "yes we do"

After paying her, she explains to us that all we need to do is put our hand over the orb on the table, and it would give us an adventurer card that will show us all of our stats, and allow us to increase said stats, and learn new skills. You are able to increase your skills and stats by getting skill points, that you get from leveling up, that you get from experience points, that you get from killing monsters. She gives us a list of classes we can get based on what stats we have. But first to the orb.

I tell Colby he can go first, and when he puts his hand over the orb it shines with a blue light. A strange magical substance goes down into some kind of funnel, and from that funnel a laser appears. Soon the adventurer card is struck by said laser, and once its done Luna picks it up and reads off his stats "Hmmmm looks like you stats are mostly a little above average, with the exception of intelligence which is almost max, perhaps a mage class would suit you?" Colby looks disappointed.

"Is there a class that dual wields?" Colby asks. "yes, you do qualify for the scout class, but are you sure you want to..." Luna is cut off by Colby, "I want it!" And so Colby became a scout that day, a class focusing on speed, agility, and well scouting. After Luna assigned him the class she turned to me.

Now it was my turn, I put my hand over the orb, and the same thing happens, however I don't get quite the same results as Colby. "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 at max. I would suggest a mage class, but..."

"I don't want that, after looking at the classes I want the Arms Master class." Luna gives a small gasp, and several of the adventurers turn their heads at me. "The arms master is very difficult to master, thats why it's almost on par with crusaders, arch mages, and..." I stop her, "I know, I know, but I know that i'll be able to use the class effectively." Luna nods, and assigns me the appropriate class. The Arms Master class has a very specific skillset: weapons and armor, besides a few skills in the class there is almost no unarmed or ranged magical skills. It specializes solely in mastering different weapon types and using armor to its fullest benefit. The Arms Master class has magical skills mostly for improving weapons and armor during the heat of battle, and for passively improving the users skill with any weapon he puts skill points into. Considering I'm able to make legendary equipment at any time, and any kind of weapons or armor I could think of, I figured this would be the best thing for me. A few of the adventurers come up behind us and slap us on the back. They looked very buff and experienced, so I took that as a good sign

"you two are gonna make an interesting team" I looked at the adventurer that spoke to me curiously, he clarified. "two damage dealers, and no healers, or mages? When both of you were more than qualified to get those classes? Its gonna be interesting" I suddenly realize what he meant, our class was extremely unbalanced, so we're gonna need some new members. "But don't worry about that! Your both adventurers now, why not celebrate!" Me and Colby both enthusiastically agree with that notion.

Just with what Colby made we still had a pretty decent meal, and some pretty good drinks to boot. They had ale there too...First time for everything I guess. After dinner I explained to Colby where new adventurers would sleep at night, just from the show, and he was not pleased. Although he had gotten a few clues from the other newer adventurers. We made our way to the stables, but something occurred to me, or more like it hit me like a brick. We would never see our family again. I thought about my parents, my brothers, and my friends as well. Before I knew it we had reached the stables.

"You ok Danny?" Colby asked me as I looked dejectedly at the hay bed we would be using. My mind went back to Colby, and my eternal thanks to God that at least I have him here. "I just realized" I begin "We'll never see our families agin" He looks at me, and with a frown he looks down too, and says "Yea, but they think we're dead anyway, we might as well make the most of our situation right?" he looks to me hopefully and I force a smile, "Yea your right, lets do our best out there, ok?" He looks at me, and then bursts into laughter. I feel a little hurt, and then he explains "You sounded just like someone from an anime just then! Haha" I realize what he means, and I follow it up "well, when in Rome, right?" which incites more laughter from him, and changes the atmosphere to a more pleasant tone, for a minute. We don't say much else, but the thought is still in the back of my mind, and probably his too. As I fall into unconsciousness I think of the last things I said to my parents.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Love you too"

Author's notes

This is basically my first fanfic so constructive criticism is very much welcome, just go easy on me, I'll try to update as often as possible, but work will get in the way.

Anyways I'll see you guys in the next chapter, thank you all for reading!