Hello everybody, author here. This is gonna be my first fic on Konosuba, and also my first fic on this site so I don't really know how everything works just yet sorry about that.

My aim with this fic is to take Konosuba but change stuff that I don't particularly like about the charcters, story, and universe as a whole. Now in order to do this I intend to take it quite slow, as to not ruin the very distinctive feel of Konosuba. This means that while the start might be very similar, a rewrite even, my hope is that the small (or big) changes that I will introduce will lead to a very different story. I won't be doing anything too crazy until the four core members are here so keep that in mind.

I also am a big dummy and just started a fic knowing full well that I am about to start my country's version of college so there's that. As such don't expect a set update schedule but I should be able to post at least once a month. (don't hold me on that though)

Anyway, here's chapter 1, which is (sadly) quite literally a rewrite of the very start of Konosuba, with some tweaks here and there.

Chapter 1 : A new chance

Death.

The true reality a such a concept never really occurred to me. I mean, sure I was aware of the definition of the word, yet I did not grasp the extent ant true meaning of the thing. My name is Satou Kazuma. Or 'was' I should say. My life was quite a short one, culminating at a measly 16 years, and it was, for a lack of a better word, boring. Uneventful. Normal ?

I was what is commonly referred to as a 'Shut-in', meaning that I spent the majority of my life in my parent's house, more precisely my bedroom, where I spent days and night playing video games. I did not have friends that I would go out and visit or hang out with. In fact the only social interactions that I had were with the staff of the hotel I resided in, and even then, they were scarce (non existent).

I wasn't always like this though. I had a pretty normal childhood, meaning that I was actually maintaining and even creating relationships with people other than myself. Looking back, I really do not know how or why I did such things, considering that it never brought me any joy. I soon realized that people are unreliable at best. You can't predict how a person will influence your life, and what that influence will entail. I quickly learned that the best way to have control over your life meant limiting the influence that other variables (people) have on it.

So I did just that.

I dedicated my life to whatever game was popular at the time, and, not to brag or anything, but I was damn good at it. So much so in fact that I stopped going to school altogether to keep my skills honed. My family didn't react too kindly to this particular choice of mine, so much so that they kicked me out of the house, thinking that I'd come around and be a 'normal' person. I started panicking a bit around that point, that is until I won a measly 10 million yen (around 90000$US) in an online tournament. I realized around that point that I could live by myself, and by extension, my own rules.

That also meant however that my only social interactions were basically gone and buried at this point. Except for the times I had to go out for the occasional game purchase, or I accidentally crossed paths with the cleaning lady from the hotel, I basically saw no one but my poor face in the mirror for the good part of 2 years.

And then I died.

It was a normal day of spring. I had gone out to buy the latest AAA game, a RPG set in a medieval world. A classic formula, but at least the chance of a disappointment was quite low.

Well anyway, I was walking around, thinking of the kind of build I would use this time. I was thinking about a mage build, or at least something to do with magic. The last time I did a run through of a medieval RPG like this I went for a tank role, and it was fucking boring, so I kinda wanted to go for the opposite this time around.

However, in the corner of my eye, I saw a glimpse of something that caught my eye. There was a girl, on the side of the road, looking at her phone and was about to cross the road, all the while a speeding truck was zooming through.

I don't exactly remember everything that happened clearly, but I'm pretty sure that my braincells did not have time to react that I was already right in front of the truck, having pushed the girl out of harm's way.

After I opened my eyes, I began scanning my surroundings. I was in some sort of vast room, with no walls and no ceiling. The only things visible were a tiled floor and two chairs, one occupied by myself and the other one utilized by an unknown blue haired girl. She was clothed quite oddly, in some sort of blue shirt/dress thing with a green bowtie. Behind her was slightly transparent pink scarf, seemingly defying the laws of physics by refusing to fall like a normal scarf would. Her skirt (or the lower part of her dress if that is what she's wearing) is very short, and seemingly was composed of several layers of fabric.

"Hello there… Uh…" The girl looked through some papers. "Uh… Satou Kazuma-san ?"

"General Kenobi !" I mumbled. I looked at the girl. She was quite beautiful, with deep blue eyes and a small smile on her lips. "Uh, yeah, last time I checked, that was my name."

The girl's smile widened slightly. "Well then, Kazuma-san, as sad as it is, I would appear that you have died."

That made me think. "Oh yeah, about that. What about the girl ? Is she safe ? Is she alright ?"

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it." The girl tilted her head. "She's a bit shook from the experience, but other than that she's perfectly fine. You're a bit of a hero, you know ?"

A hero ? To be quite frankly honest, I don't really know how I feel about the situation as a whole. While I certainly am happy that the girl I saved is fine, I am quite unsure about the whole dying part of the thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I did not want her to die, but I sure as hell did not want to take her place instead !

"Oh uh… That's great, I guess. Can I go back now ?" I asked.

The girl laughed. "Hahaha, of course not ! Silly Kazuma, you're dead ! You can't go back to living ! Hahaha !"

Well fuck. It was worth a try, but I guess this outcome was to be expected. And since when did this girl drop the honorifics and had the right to make fun of me ? There was something about her that screamed entitled dumbass, the kind of people that I hate the most (well I hate most people but these ones in particular). Still, I decided to play it safe.

"Uh, yeah I guess you're right. And you are ?"

She looked surprised for a second but quickly recomposed herself. "Oh right." She sat upright in her chair and offered a serene smile. "My name is Aqua, the goddess of water. Since you have died, I am here to guide you in the afterlife."

Seeing my lack of reaction she continued. "there are multiple choices offered to you. First off, you can choose to be reincarnated as a baby, essentially having another chance at life. However, you will, of course, lose all your memories of your previous life. Not that a shut-in NEET like you would have any memories worth keeping ! Hahaha !"

Okay. This Aqua girl definitely was the literal embodiment of the stereotype of the self-centered bitch.

Having calmed herself, she started talking again. "You can also choose to go to Heaven, where you will stay forever in the company of all the people that died before you. You won't have a physical form however so all you'll be able to do is chat with old people, without any chance to have some fun."

As she said the last word of her sentence, she winked, leaving what she had in mind pretty clear, even without any explanation. That certainly won't do. I refuse to die a virgin. However, the prospect of being reborn didn't seem appealing either. The afterlife was pretty shit after all, huh ?

"These options are pretty shitty, aren't they ?" asked Aqua, as if she were reading my mind.

I nodded in response.

The supposed goddess smiled. "Well fear not, for I have a third and last proposition to offer you !"

"You like games, don't you ?" she asked, leaning towards me.

"Yeah, I guess ?"

"What would you say to a chance at living in the world of a game. Picture this. There's this world, which is your run of the mill, normal game world, with magic, creatures and monsters, knights and adventurers, princesses (another wink)… Sounds good, right ?"

Sounds good ? Of course it fucking does ! This is like every gamer's dream right there ! Once again, I nodded, cautious to not show too much interest in case of a catch appearing.

"However…"

And there it fucking is.

"...There's a teeny tiny problem. You see, there this Demon King, and he's kinda killing a lot of people, so much so that the people of the world are refusing to reincarnate… So in exchange for sending you into this wonderful world, all we ask is that you defeat the Demon King."

After a brief pause, Aqua continued. "Since there is absolutely no way that a NEET like you can defeat such a powerful foe on his own, we'll grant you access to a power up, a cheat item of sorts, to give you the necessary means to defeat the evil Demon King. Deal ?"

Seriously. There is a behavioral problem with this girl. How can she seem so pure and innocent yet be so fucking annoying !? Well whatever, it's not like she's gonna stay with me for a long time so, eh, I'll just endure it for now. As annoying as she is, the offer she described did seem very enticing, especially when compared to the other two. There didn't seem to be a time limit for defeating this Demon King so taking it easy and using this item to build a comfortable life did not seem so far fetched. Plus magic, and adventurers ? Seems like I'll be able to do my mage run after all.

"Fine, I'm interested." I answered. "So how does this item thing work ? Do I need so submit a design or something ?"

"Oh no, you'll just have to choose from there." she answered, pointing to a pile of papers next to her.

"These are shit." I muttered.

Through the entire fucking pile of papers each presenting a different item (there were 32 mind you), none of them was any good. Let's take one at random for example.

'Heaven's Door : allows the user to control the molecules of their body, allowing notably but not limited to intangibility and teleportation. However, any molecules present in the space before the user re materializes will be included in the user's body when the re materialization process occurs, leading to unfortunate scenarios like merging with objects and/or walls, spontaneous explosion of the user's body because of the air particles. Furthermore, while dematerilized, the user is still bound by the laws of physics and, as such gravity, leading to more unfortunate scenarios like falling through solid surfaces without any chance at escaping without suffering a gruesome death…'

Even if we ignore the fact that the person who made this clearly had absolutely no idea how gravity worked, it's still shit ! Why would anyone want something that leads to their death if they use it even once ! It literally does not make any sense at all ! How the fuck am I supposed to defeat the Demon King (make a shit ton of money) with this ?

"Oi, Kazuma, what's taking so long ?"

I looked at Aqua, eating snacks on her chair. "Well maybe if your items weren't so shitty I'd take less time !" Dumbass.

She sighed "It's not my problem, you know. As a goddess, I am very busy so hurry up. Come on, shoo shoo !"

As she continued to try and get me out of her sight, something unexpected happened. I grinned as my three braincells who didn't hate eachother gave me a worthwhile idea.

"Not your problem, huh ? That so ? Well it'll be now !" I stood up and pointed at the confused Aqua. "Aqua, goddess of water, I choose you as my cheat item !"

Aqua tilted her head in disbelief, or maybe that was incomprehension. "Eh ?"

"Yes, what better than a goddess to help me defeat the Demon King ? Hahaha !"

As I continued to laugh maniacally, another voice was heard. "Very well. Opening two portals."

A light began glowing at me and Aqua's feet, as the latter broke down into a mess of tears. "Eh ? You can't do that ! Nooo ! Waaa, Kazuma-san, please help me, I'm sorryyy ! Waaaa !"

"Ah ! That's what you get for being a bitch, stupid ! Hahaha !"

"Aqua-senpai, I'll take over from her."

"Eris ? Ah Eris, please help me, waaaa !"

As we began levitating, I saw another woman descending from above. Wearing a simple purple and white dress, there was a certain purity coming from her. Even at first glance, I could easily tell that thus person was a goddess of some sort, especially when compared to the mess that was Aqua.

The goddess, who I gathered was named Eris, looked at me.

"Satou Kazuma-san, Aqua-senpai, I wish you luck, as you'll need it. When you defeat the Demon King, I'll be sure to summon you here to grant you your wish, as well as allow senpai to come back to heaven."

Huh ? What the fuck was she on about ?

"What do you mean 'you'll need it'- Wait, what was that about a wish ?"

Eris raised an eyebrow. "Oh, did senpai not mention this part to you ? It is part of the deal that the hero who defeats the Demon King will be granted a wish by the gods."

I turned to Aqua, still wailing and crying. "Oi, why are you keeping information to yourself, stupid ?"

It seemed as though she didn't hear me, as all I got in response was her seemingly unlimited stock of screams and tears.

Eris cleared her throat. "Well anyway, may you be successful and victorious in your travels and endeavors. Yes, in the name of…"

"Waaaa ! That's my line !"

As my burden continued crying out, the light surrounding us became increasingly bright, eventually covering everything in my sight.

We were in what appeared to be the standard small town in medieval times. I could hear the sound of horses pulling carriages, peoples conversing and laughing. Huh. Demon King my ass ! It would basically be impossible to be in a town more peaceful than that !

Well, not exactly. I could still hear the screams of the 'goddess' beside me, reminding me of why I was sent here in the first place. I quickly glanced at the various people in my vicinity. A bulky man was transporting some crates into what I could only assume to be his home. A middle aged woman with cat ears was slowly strolling around, humming a melody.

Hmm. I could get acclimated to this very quickly. The only problem I see for the time being was my inability to hold a normal conversation with someone for more than 10 seconds due to my lack of social interactions, but I guess I'll just have to wing it. Now, I still need to do something about this particular problem though. I turned to face Aqua, crying her eyes out on all fours.

"Oi, can you stop crying ? People will think I'm a weirdo if they see me with a crying girl. Plus aren't you supposed to be a goddess ? This should be like a stroll in the park for you, no ?"

Aqua lifted her head to look me in the eyes and pounced on me. "Waaa, what did you do, you stupid, shitty NEET !? Why am I stuck here with you of all people !? Waaa !"

Wait, stuck ?

Oh yeah, Eris did mention something about coming to get Aqua once we defeat the Demon King. Huh. I guess this could be quite troubling for her. Well anyway, since she's gonna stay with me for a while, I guess I need to start being just a little more empathetic.

"Hey, don't worry about it, it's gonna be fine. After all, all we need to do is defeat the Demon King for you to go back home, so we should probably get on that, no ?"

Aqua stopped crying, nodding. I gave a small smile. "Come, let's find the adventurers guild... tavern... thing of this town."

As I started walking, my newly found (forced) companion followed me and asked.

"How do you know what to do in this situation ?"

"Well it's the standard in RPG games to have some sort of place where adventurers can regroup, find people for their party and take quests. I just figured that we should probably do that. Anyway let's make note of what we have for now."

I looked at myself. I was wearing a normal tracksuit and shoes. In my right pocket, I had a few coins. I looked over at Aqua.

"I have my precious hagoromo !" she said, looking at her scarf in her hands.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that it ?"

"Uh, yeah. But since it's of divine creation, it cleanses me of all negative effects while I wear it. Pretty neat, huh ?" she happily said.

"Well I have some coins." I looked over at the money in my hands. "Just about… 25000 Eris ? Is that a lot ?"

The goddess shook her head. "You could say that 1 Eris equals 1 Yen."

So we had a small beginner gift of 25000 Yen at our disposal. It won't allow us to survive for a long time, but at least it'll give us the opportunity to start our life here.

As we continued to walk around the town, I noticed something. "Say Aqua, how I am able to understand the language of this world ?"

"Well, it wouldn't be great if the people we send here don't understand anything so, you know."

"Huh. Pretty insightful, for once."

Aqua let out a nervous laugh. "Haha, yeah insightful. It isn't because the first people we sent here didn't understand shit or anything, haha. Say, Kazuma, you know where this guild/tavern/thing is located ?"

"Uh, no. To be honest, I was hoping you'd know since you're supposed to be a goddess and all."

"I am a goddess !"

This meant that my first challenge was about to begin. I had to find someone and ask them directions.

After a bit of looking around, I found the perfect candidate. It was a middle aged woman with a baby in her arms. I avoided men by fear of getting beat up, and I avoided the various girls around my age for obvious reasons. I mustered all my courage and engaged into 'battle'.

"Uh, hello ! Me and my friend are looking for this town's uh… Guild ? Could you please give us directions ?"

The woman looked at me and Aqua and smiled sweetly. "Well of course ! You just have to head down this street and you'll see it to your right after about 300 meters."

As I mumbled some semblance of thanks and was preparing to leave, the woman spoke again. "You aren't from around here, aren't ya ?"

Fuck. I did pretty well up until now so why do you have to come and ruin it ! We could have left it here and never see eachother again but no, miss had to come and push the thing ! What the fuck am I supposed to answer to that anyway ? That I come from another world ?

"Uh, haha… No, I'm not from around here…"

"And where do you come from, if you don't mind me asking ?"

Aaaaah ! Yes I do mind you asking ! What in the actual fuck do I answer ?

Then, by some miracle, Aqua came to the rescue. "We come from a faraway country, running from war and poverty… We want to become adventurers in order to build a suitable life for others." she said a genuine smile on her face.

"Oh I see. Well I won't keep you from your destiny any longer, haha…" answered the woman.

As we walked away following the indicated path, Aqua questioned me. "What the hell was that ? The guy who is supposed to defeat the Demon King is scared of a conversation ? Hahaha !"

"Oi, social interactions are unpredictable and full of traps, which can lead to misunderstandings causing a lot of problems. It's not my fault : I asked a question and I got an answer. I didn't expect her to engage in small talk with a complete stranger afterwards."

"Hmm, I see. Well then, just see it as you would in a game. Just imagine that the person in front of you is a NPC and choose your response according to what they said. You're just imagining things, you're just talking to someone you know."

Hmm. Maybe there was a part of truth to what she was saying, even if a conversation between people did not have the same complexity as choosing an answer to an NPC. Huh. Maybe Aqua will be useful after all.

"You NEET."

Or not.

The Adventurer's Guild was bigger than I anticipated. The smell of food and beer was oozing from every opening, and you could hear some people speaking loudly and laughing, even in the middle of the day.

After a quick mental preparation, I pushed the front door open and invited Aqua to follow me. I was prepared for a bunch of mean looking people giving us some stares, but none of that.

Everybody inside was either sat at tables eating or at the bar downing what appeared to be beer. In fact it seemed more like a local restaurant than a place for adventurers group up and deal about various dangerous quests, but the ambiance wasn't unpleasing.

Aqua and I made our way to a counter, where we waited for somebody to come see us. As I quickly scanned the room, I noticed some guys stealing glances at not me, but my companion. "Uh, Aqua ?" I mumbled. "There seems to be a lot of people looking at you."

"Really ?" Aqua flipped her hair. "They must have noticed the holy aura emanating from my person as I am a goddess."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. As long as they weren't looking at me, it was fine. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now listen up, we are probably going to go through the tutorial right now, so you pay attention, okay ? This will be important for like, all the time we're here so you be focused."

"Uh uh."

"We're probably gonna become real adventurers, meaning we'll choose classes, and they'll explain how the quests system works."

"Right. Well anyway, I'm not a dumb NEET like you so it'll be easy for me."

I raised an eyebrow. I don't know why I even bothered. As I mentally cursed myself for taking Aqua with me for the tenth time in less than half an hour, another voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Hello, how can I be of help to you ?" asked a lady behind the counter. She seemed quite young, being a few years older than me. She had blonde wavy hair and the world had gifted her with two big assets.

"Oh, right, uh, hello. Me and my friend over here are trying to become adventurers, but since we're not from here, we have no idea how it works." I decided to go with Aqua's story of the faraway country, since it was technically the truth anyway.

"I see. Well, to begin, there is a fee for new registrations, 1000 Eris per person. Is that okay with you ?"

I took two coins from my pocket and handed them to the lady.

"Perfect ! Alright let's begin. My name is Luna and I am in charge of this guild. As you probably already know, adventurers are in charge of the annihilation of various monsters outside the town, doing this through quests. These quests can take different forms as you'll see for yourselves. Furthermore, there are several jobs that an adventurer can take depending on their stats."

Luna handed us each a card.

"As you can see, these cards aren't assigned yet so there is no specialization, known as a job. However, you can still see the level bar, right here. This will represent your level as an adventurer and will increase as you collect Experience points through various means like killing monsters for example. You will also be able to view the history of all the monsters you've killed, which I will use to determine if a quest is complete or not."

"As you level up, you will gain skill points which you can in turn exchange for new skills in your skill tree. Now please fill up the blanks with your personal information like height, weight, etc…"

As we did as we were told, Luna continued her explanation. "Once you are finished, please touch the blank spot in the upper right corner of the card. This will scan your stats such as vitality, strength and such."

I finished putting my information. Height was 165 cm and weight was 55kg. I was 16 years old with brown hair and green eyes. Following the instructions, I put my thumb in the blank spot.

"Alright then, please give me your card. Thank you, uh, Satou Kazuma-san ? Let us see… All stats are just about average.. except for a low mana capacity… Oh, your intelligence is quite high and your luck is amazingly high ! However, the only job available to you is the Adventurer job, the most basic… Since your luck is so high, wouldn't you want to be a merchant instead ?"

It was to be expected after all. Even then, being told that I was so weak that I should give up and become a merchant… I looked over at Aqua, who was trying to stifle a laugh, and felt an unreasonably high temptation to punch her.

"Um… I'd like to be an Adventurer then, please…"

Luna gave a weak smile. "O-Okay. It's fine. After all, the Adventurer job possesses something that the other classes don't. You see, the Adventurer class is widely considered to be the weakest, because it only gains one skill point per level and doesn't have a skill tree. Instead, you can learn any skill you see and have a basic understanding of, with a price penalty of course. Furthermore, the Adventurer class has something called a proficiency level, not unlike the basic level system. As you go and do tasks as an Adventurer, your proficiency level increases, and each time you go up a proficiency level, you gain a set amount of skill points, giving you another source of skills points from just the leveling system. There even is certain milestones at proficiency 25, 50 and 75 increasing the gain of skill points from the leveling system by two."

"Theoretically, the Adventurer job can gain the maximum amounts of skill points of any class, at 7 points per level, but the amount of time required to get to proficiency 75 discourages most people."

Wait. A class where you can learn anything you see and understand, and rewards mindless grinding ? It's like it was made for me ! Weakest class my ass !

"Anyway, you can also level up or train physically to improve your stats and change jobs later if you'd like. Now onto you, miss… Aqua. Woah ! Your stats are amazing ! Except for a low intelligence and abysmal luck, all of your stats are the highest I've ever seen !"

Her tone did increase by quite a few margins meaning that Aqua was now the guild's newest attraction, much to my despair. A bunch of people were now around us trying to catch a peek of Aqua's card. Although, once again, it was to be expected, given the divine origin of my companion.

"This is amazing ! Except for jobs requiring high intelligence like mage, you can do anything you'd like !" exclaimed Luna.

"Say, Luna-san, is there a goddess job ?" asked Aqua.

Silence replaced the noise from all the adventurers looking at us. I guess they weren't exactly acquainted with Aqua yet, so such a reaction wasn't far fetched. "Uh… There's the Arch-Priest ?"

"Hmph, fine, I guess this will have to do."

Luna showed a big smile as the crowd behind us cheered. "Alright then, Arch-Priest it is ! Well then, Kazuma-san, but more importantly Aqua-sama, I look forward to seeing your accomplishments !"

And with that, Aqua and I became adventurers.

"Alright boys, with that it's done !" said the boss.

Cheers erupted from the crowd of workers, with Aqua and I in it. After we signed up as adventurers, we realized that we had absolutely no equipment to take on quests. To pay for at least a basic equipment, and also not die a gruesome death by hunger, we decided to take on various jobs to gather a bit of money.

And so, we ended up here, as construction workers. We were working for a little more than a month now, and we just finished our first big project. The pay for a construction worker wasn't bad, but it wasn't the only reason why I had to choose this job.

To be honest, my ego was kinda bruised after Luna told me that my stats were poor, so I decided to take on a job with a heavy physical toll to try and improve my physique. After a month of non stop physical workout, my strength stat had more than doubled while my vitality and agility had increased quite a bit. I guess that since my days as a shut-in did not include me taking care of my body, such an increase wasn't too crazy.

Furthermore, I had noticed that my proficiency level had increased quite a bit, from level 1 to level 3, leaving me with 2 skill points awaiting use. It would seem that gaining money counted towards raising my proficiency level.

Wondering what I should do with those skill points, I decided to go out and ask some people. Such an outing would normally be impossible for me with the amount of social interactions involved, however this month of work also served to me as social training, so much so that I could even hold a conversation without too much trouble. I would even say that I made some friends, which was already quite an improvement from my previous life as a shut-in.

Anyway, I was walking around town, trying to see if someone could teach me some useful skill that I could use on quests. I ended up picking up Basic Sword Mastery from a very polite knight by the name of Arturia, giving me a basic idea of what to do with a sword in my hands. I could also improve my technique through regular training which was good to note.

I also picked up a skill called Dash from a thief. This skill allowed the user to lurch forward by 7.5 meters without any mana consumption. It could be upgraded into a Ghost Dash, which granted intangibility for the duration of the dash, without anyone needing to show me the skill, oddly enough. I guess that upgrades to previously owned skills could be acquired without any outside help.

I then went ahead and bought a basic one handed sword, before going to the public bath and then heading back to the stables. Many of the new adventurers did not have enough money to even rent a room in an inn, so like them, Aqua and I were forced to sleep in the stables, which were comfortable enough, but lacked isolation meaning that the nights were quite cold.

As we were lying around on the hay, about to drift to sleep, Aqua suddenly sat up. "Now wait up ! What the hell are we doing here !"

"About to go to sleep, now shut up !"

"No, that's not what I meant ! Why aren't we doing more to defeat the Demon King !?"

"Uh, because we're dirt poor, that's why. And by the way, I learned 2 skills and bought a sword today. What did you do, you stupid goddess ?"

Without any response to give, Aqua started to pout.

To be honest, it isn't that I did not want to take on a quest. No, in fact, I really did want to do a quest. But, alas, there wasn't any 'tutorial' quest available in the guild. Instead, all the quests available were semi-high difficulty, bounties on high danger targets or extermination quests.

There wasn't any quest consisting of the classic 'help the old lady find her homemade cakes in the forest or things like this. Furthermore, the monsters of this world, when slain, did not drop any money, meaning that the only monetary reward was given by the guild.

That meant that even if we did take on quests, we would be making even less money than as construction workers, while also risking our lives as level 1 adventurers.

However, I did want to at least try to do a quest. After all, I was sent in a RPG like world, so I could at least try to behave like an adventurer of some sorts, even if that was not the best of ideas financially speaking.

"You know what Aqua ? Sure, you win. Tomorrow, we'll do a quest. A real quest where we almost die fighting monsters all for a slim reward at the guild, okay ?"

Aqua smiled. "Okay ! Good night !"

I sighed. It would appear that I'd get the RPG experience after all.

"Oh my fucking… Aqua, help me !"

Under the clear sky of this new world, my companion laughed hysterically as she watched me run around chased by a giant toad.

This morning, I went to the guild to find a quest easy enough for me and Aqua to complete without too much trouble. I found something promising. An extermination quest, where we had to kill 5 giant toads in 3 days. Seemed easy enough.

Oh how wrong I was. The 'giant' in giant toads wasn't there for decoration. At least the size of an elephant with a mouth big enough to fit the average human male, giant toads were the bane of new adventurers. Furthermore, their flesh was thick enough to negate most physical attacks.

Now that I thought about it, Aqua, who said that 'a goddess like her did not need a weapon', in fact, did not have a weapon, meaning that she would be useless, even if she did try to do something to help me. Well, anyway, at least she could be a distraction so, no matter.

"Aqua ! Do something !"

"Oi, you damned NEET, maybe add a -san and I'll consider it !"

"Aqua-sama ! Help me !" I said heading straight for her.

Realizing this, Aqua had a panicked expression for a moment before recomposing herself. "Alright alright, I am, after all, a benevolent goddess, I'll give you a hand."

This bitch. She was definitely doing it to save her skin.

"Yes, I, Aqua, the goddess of water shall save you pathetic existence, and, as thanks, I only ask-"

Before me was an odd spectacle. The toad had stopped moving, having found a better meal than I was : my party mate, Aqua, as shown by the feet sticking out of the toad's mouth. Hmm. Serves her right. Well anyway, the frog-like being wasn't moving so…

"Waaa, thank you, Kazuma-san ! Waaa !"

Aqua was sobbing on the floor, covered in internal toad juices. A pitiful sight really.

"Hey Aqua, don't you wanna go back ? I mean we would still have 2 days. Don't you wanna try and get some better equipment ?"

I mean, I got lucky and was able to kill the toad just because it was distracted. Taking on more with Aqua's sorry state and my lack of equipment would equal to suicide.

Aqua, however, did not seem to agree with my vision of our current party strength.

"I refuse ! I am Aqua, the beautiful goddess of water ! How can I show my face to my followers after being beaten by a mere frog ! Their life will have no meaning if they see their light in life so dim ! No, Kazuma, we must have revenge !"

How melodramatic. If even one of her followers spent more than an hour with her, they'd probably lose their meaning in life anyway, but who am I to judge. The fact that this goddess charged straight ahead at another frog was probably more interesting than the life of the supposed followers of my companion anyway.

"You and your kin shall know the wrath of this goddess ! God Blow !"

Remember what I said about physical attacks earlier. Yeah.

"You know, looking closely, frogs are quite cute you know ?"

"It's a toad, you stupid goddess !" I yelled.

After Aqua got eaten again, I killed this second toad, before taking a sobbing, toad-juice flavored Aqua back to town.