It was the day after Kazuma had gone out for the quest. He was sitting in Lily's house hanging out with Dale. Lily wasn't home yet, but she was already outside, ready to enter.

She opened the door and greeted the two.

"Hey there you guys! How are you?" She asked as she entered, plopping her bag on the floor.

"We're doing alright, just us bros hanging out." Dale responded as she came around to hug the two.

When she hugged Kazuma, he let out a yelp of pain.

"Ow! Careful!" He said, getting her to let go of him.

"Sorry sorry! Are you injured?" She asked.

"Yeah, a bit."Kazuma said as he rubbed his back.

"Let me see!" She said, lifting up the back of his shirt, revealing some bandages wrapped around his torso.

"Wha- Hey! Don't just lift up my shirt without my permission!" He shouted as he pulled it back down.

"What happened to you?" Lily asked.

"Well..." Kazuma spent some time explaining what happened on the quest he took.


Sometime after Kazuma rescued the sisters

Kazuma was running as fast as he could back to Lorm. "Crap crap crap crap! I didn't even realize the sun had started setting, the guild is gonna close if I don't hurry!"

The building itself wouldn't close until late night, but the quest manager in Lorm closes by 8 PM. With the way the sun was currently at, Kazuma guessed it was around 7 PM.

As he ran, he caught up to the sisters he rescued.

"Mister! Wait up!" The younger one called out as he passed them. He stopped and quickly ran over to them.

"Yes... What's... Wrong?" Kazuma asked between gasps of air.

She let go of her sister's hand and gave him a hug, though she mainly hugged his legs because of the height difference.

"I- W-What?" Kazuma stammered, surprised by the gesture.

"Thank you for saving me and my big sister!" She said, giving him a big smile.

"Oh dear, looks like Lena is quite fond of you now." The older sister said.

"What?"

"Oh, pardon me. My name is Sae, and that little one that's hugging your legs is Lena."

"Oh, pleased to meet you, name's Kazuma." He said as he gave a hand to shake.

"Pleased to meet you too Kazuma." She grabbed his hand and shook it.

"I have to say though, thank you for saving us. If it weren't for you we would've been goners. You have my gratitude." She bowed slightly in gratitude.

"O-Oh, it's no biggie, I'm just glad you two are safe." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You're headed back to Lorm, right? We live there too." She asked.

"Yeah, that's right, I- CRAP! THE GUILD!" He shouted in realization.

He managed to get Lena to let go of his leg.

"Sorry, but I have to go, take care!" He said as he ran off, the two waving as he left.

"Bye bye!"

"See you next time Kazuma!"

Kazuma was in complete full sprint, with the additional boost from spamming "Lurk".

He soon saw the entrance to Lorm come into view.

'Almost there!' Kazuma cheered.

Just as he reached the gate, he bumped into a guard, knocking them both down.

"Ow... Sorry! I was in a rush!" Kazuma apologized.

"No biggie, are you alright?" The guard asked.

"Yea, I'm alrig- Wait, Dale?" Kazuma asked once he noticed who he bumped into.

"Kazuma? What brings you here?" Dale asked.

"I was on my way to the Guild, I wanted to turn in the quest before it closes."

"Oh, in that case you might be too late, it's already past eight now." Dale informed him.

It took Kazuma an hour to get to the gate.

"No way..." Kazuma slumped over in disappointment.

"Dale!" A voice called out.

"Yes!" Dale responded, straightening his posture.

Kazuma looked over to see a man in amour, similar to Dale's but had a more fancy make, meaning he was a higher rank.

"Who is this?"

"Sir, this is Kazuma, he's a friend. We found him in the forest between Einshard and Belzerg." Dale explained.

"I see. It's getting late, why don't you head home with him."

"Thank you sir!" Dale said as the other man walked away.

Dale turned backed to Kazuma. "Isn't that great, now we can go get some drinks!" He said as he patted Kazuma on the back, causing him to flinch.

"Ow! Watch it!" Kazuma said as he rubbed his back.

"Sorry! I didn't even hit you that hard... Wait, did you take any hits Kazuma?"

"A goblin hit me in the back. I guess the adrenaline finally wore off from both the fight and the panic of getting here." Kazuma said.

'I guess I got so used to having Aqua around to heal me after each quest that I forgot about getting injured. I better not get myself killed then or else it'll be over for me here.' Kazuma thought to himself.

"Come on, let's get you patched up then we'll go get those drinks."


"And then that's what we did, I got patched up and then got some drinks and dinner." Kazuma finished his story.

"Wow! That was very generous of you to save those sisters." Lily said.

"It was no problem, they were in trouble and I wanted to help."

"Even so, not everyone out there would be willing to save some strangers like that, especially not without some reward."

"She's right y'know. Even among some guards, they'll sometimes turn a blind eye to someone's peril if it doesn't benefit them." Dale said.

Kazuma nodded his head, affirming he understood them well.

"Now then, let me heal those wounds for you." Lily said, reaching her hands outwards towards him.

"Heal!" Kazuma felt the pain subside quickly. Soon he was able to move around freely without any pain.

"Thank you Lily! You're a life saver!"

"Well, sometimes I am!" She giggled.

The three of them talked for a bit before Lily realized something.

"Hey Kazuma?"

"Yes?"

"Did you turn in your quest yet?"

. . .

"SHIT! I FORGOT! I'LL BE RIGHT BAAAAACK!" Kazuma shouted as he burst through the door and broke into a sprint to the Guild.

The two looked at the door that Kazuma went through. It had shattered into quite a few pieces, one hinge off the frame.

"Well, guess I need to get a new door now." Lily sighed.

"Don't worry, you can make him pay for it!" Dale said with a grin.

"You're right!"

"OUT OF MY WAY! I'M IN A HURRY!" Kazuma shouted as he ran through the streets. As was running he didn't notice the hooded figure of Raze standing on the tall roof of a building. She watched him burst out of a house and run towards the Guild.

Once he made it and entered, she turned her gaze towards the house where Dale and Lily walked outside to clean up the mess Kazuma made.

"Interesting... You've made some friends Kazuma... But what you might call your friends, I call potential hostages." She said, grinning evily.


Some Time Later

Kazuma entered the house completely out of breath.

"Hah... I'm back... I got the reward..." Kazuma said in between gasps of air, lifting up a small poutch with the reward.

"Nice! Thank you Kazuma!" Lily said as she took the poutch from him.

"Huh? Wait why did you take my money?" Kazuma asked.

"You broke my door, and it was a custom one too. It cost 10 thousand eris to get a new one made, which just so happens to be what your reward was." Lily said with a smile.

"No way..."

"It's okay man! You just gotta get into the groove again and take on another quest!" Dale said as he patted Kazuma in the back.

Kazuma had a dead look on his face.

'Whether in Axel or here, I can't get a break with my money huh...' Kazuma thought to himself.

Clenching his fists, Kazuma shouted in frustration that could be heard all throughout Lorm.

"CURSE THIS GOOD FOR NOTHING WORLD!"


"This is so unfair." Kazuma cried on the table.

The three went to the Guild to get some dinner. It was still very lively despite it being a bit late in the night.

"Come on Kazuma, cheer up and have a drink!" Dale said as he downed a mug of beer.

"I'm not in the mood... Besides, I'm quite broken again to even drink anyways." Kazuma said in a monotonous voice.

"Well that's your fault for breaking my door!" Lily said as she took a bite out of a fried frog leg.

"Don't remind me..." Kazuma said as the tears flowed for the memory of the money he just lost.

"Say, Kazuma?" Said Lily.

"Yes?"

"What job do you have right now?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well we never discussed what exactly what job you have. You know I'm a Mage while Dale here is a Swordsman."

"Yeah, I've been wondering that too. I know you use a short sword but I remember you using a spell back when we found you in the forest." Dale said as he recalled Kazuma using tinder as a flare.

"Well I'm just a regular Adventurer, the most basic class."

"Wait, seriously? Just an adventurer?" Dale said slightly shocked.

"Yep, the only options I had from the get go were either adventurer or merchant thanks to my high luck, and I didn't wanna be a merchant."

"I see, but have you thought about changing your job?" Lily asked.

"Honestly, not really." Kazuma answered.

"Why not?" Dale asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sure being a mage or a swordsman would be really cool, but from what I heard, each side has their ups and downs. Dale, as a swordsman you can't learn magic right?"

"That's right. As a job that is more physically focused, we are restricted from learning certain magic, or the requirements are more harder to achieve, such as double the skill points required. Not to mention we focus more on our strength than mana anyways." Dale explained.

"And the same applies for mages, we cannot learn many physical skills and they require higher strength, or more skill points than normal." Lily chimed in.

"Exactly, whereas an adventurer can learn at the very least basic, or even intermediate skills, depending on the requirements, both physical and magic, at barely any extra cost. I've gotten used to this style of fighting where I had to cover for my team's missing aspects. We had strong defence, but barely any attacks. We had a mage that could only use a spell once before all her mana was drained. And we had someone who could only either heal, buff us, or purify the undead. So I had to cover for the attacks and the variety of spells, granted I don't have many. It's a fighting style I've grown used to."

"I see, and there's no reason to change away from what you're used to." Dale said, nodding at Kazuma's explanation.

"Well I guess that's that then. But I still have another question Kazuma." Lily said.

"What is it?"

"What do you plan on doing now? You've recovered from your injuries, you have your new weapon, and now you can go on quests to make a bit of a living."

Kazuma sat in thought. He had never really given it much thought on what he would do now. Would he still try to pursue defeating the Devil King? Are there any consequences for abandoning his given mission? And what about his lodging, would he move into an inn, a house of his own, or would he stay with Lily?

"I actually didn't think about it that much yet. So much has happened lately that I haven't had the time to think about where I go from here." Kazuma answered honestly.

A moment of silence passed before Lily spoke up.

"Well, you can do whatever. If you decide to move out then I get that spare room back, and perhaps I don't have to worry about any doors breaking anymore." She said jokingly, making Kazuma flinch at the reminder that his latest pay was just taken for breaking the door.

"On the other hand, it's been quite fun having you around, even Dale comes over quite a bit more now. Plus having you around might help reduce the costs of things like for the house and groceries, you're not gonna be freeloading anytime soon mister." Lily said as she gave a deathly stare and pointed at him.

"W-wouldn't dream of it!" Kazuma said quickly as he felt a chill run down his spine.

Kazuma then sat in thought for a while. On the one hand, he didn't want to burden the two any more than he already has, not to mention how awkward it would be for a guy and a girl to living alone together. But on the other hand, they seem to trust him well enough, and he could say the same thing too. Plus has already stayed with Aqua in the stables, then lived with two more girls for a while, even though each of them had their own set of problems it would make even considering a relationship with them a red flag for now.

Finally, Kazuma came to a conclusion.

"I... If you wouldn't mind me, I would like to stick around with you guys. You're my only friends here in Einshard, so I'd like to be around you guys." Kazuma said.

"Well then, I guess that's settled then. In that case, let's get some drinks to celebrate!" Lily exclaimed as she waved for a waitress.

"Aw yea! Let's drink the night away!" Dale said as he chugged the rest of his down.

Some other adventurers heard this and decided to get in on the action of celebrating.

Kazuma was at first surprised at their enthusiasm, but quickly laughed it off. He was happy he could have people to be friends with in this unfamiliar place.

'It may not be like back in Axel, but this isn't half bad either' Kazuma thought to himself as drinks were served.