Edited and proof read by Safiyypro
The duet had finally started walking towards the construction site an hour later. Apparently, the squabble they had in the morning turned into a heated debate, which kept escalating. It transitioned between bickering, debating into name calling and slangs about the other's personal life as well as appearance, before concluding with a brawl in the end, where Kazuma pulled on Aqua's cheeks, making her more sour and angrier than usual, having him take a bitch-slap to the face.
From there on, they started a full-on wrestle, giving a number of broken bones for the unlucky boy. Aqua started buffing her strength with magic and gave him a metal-like beating, which she had to heal later on (with annoyance doing so).
During the whole walk they didn't speak to one another, resorting to looking sideways or avoiding eye contact entirely.
As they reached the site, a huge figure was already waiting for them. It happened to be their boss, the manager of site. The guy was a huge mass, measuring over 6 feet with rippling muscles and skin as dark as a bear. He had deep husk voice and held a calm but a commanding demeanor. He would rarely get upset or have a burst excitement. But today, he looked really pissed.
They were late for the 3rd time in a week for another stupid reason.
The troublesome duo already had a rough start to the day, so they refused to let it stop here. "GOOD MORNING, BOSS!", Kazuma greeted him in the most formal and optimistic way he could. Too bad he remained unfazed.
"Oh, thank Eris for gracing us with both of your presences. so did you sleep well?", the boss replied with a sarcastic tone.
"Sir I can explain, look we were -" Kazuma tried explaining with a believable excuse, but was cut short.
''Oh no no no no! I know you mus've been busy finding clothes or anything of the sort. Perhaps the hangover from last night's party was painful, or you two were attacked by monsters.", The funny thing was that all three of those assumptions had actually happened. The Goddess and Neet just kept their heads down listening to the lecture. The Boss had serious pent-up frustration inside him, and it all came out on them that day. After 10 minutes he stopped.
"This is the last warning to you two, alright? You are some of our finest workers, 'specially you Aqua. You are a great mason, but if this tardiness keeps up, I will be forced to take strict actions. Start taking this more seriously, or else you will only get half the daily pay.", He told them upfront.
Kazuma ranted, "This world isn't fair at all! I work as daily wage labor, when I should be out there slaying monsters, having kickass powers and weapons, and building a harem full of THICC, PRETTY GIRLS, Who should be fighting for the right of taking my virginity."
"This 'Fantasy world' is full of shit, it's a scam. All those novels, mangas, and anime lied to me, and the only girl I'm stuck with is this sorry excuse of a goddess, this brainless idiot.", Kazuma muttered under his breath.
"Did you say anything?", Aqua perked up asking.
"Nothing. Let's just get to work then." ' How does she lack this much- I really don't have the strength to argue with myself right now.'
The both of them went on to their respective work stations. They tried avoiding eye contact or talking to each other during the whole shift, but a meeting with each other was deemed inevitable at lunch break. Kazuma sat down eating some bread and milk, along with some fruits when Aqua walked up to him.
"Hey, NEET. You're sitting in my place, Get off.", Aqua scoffed.
Kazuma didn't pay any attention to her and kept on munching his food.
"HEY, are you deaf or something?"Aqua nudged towards the oblivious seat thief.
"Can't you take the hint that I am ignoring you? Oh yeah, that's right, You're too dumb to even have a chance at 'getting it', I guess", Kazuma mocked the irritated goddess, refusing looking up to see her aggravated gaze. "Besides, there are a lot of other spaces for you to sit at."
"Listen here, you little NEET. This spot here is where I always eat, alright?", Aqua tried reasoning.
They were on the starting line of another meaningless squabble, when one of the workers signaled to them that lunchtime was about to be over.
Aqua took in the fact that she hadn't eaten anything yet, and instead wasted her time arguing over a damn seat. So she started stuffing food into her mouth at a rapid pace. Most of the food fell onto the ground instead of going into her mouth, crumbs became stuck all over her face and her lower hair.
Kazuma snickered at the sight of the pitiful goddess gobbling the food like a vacuum cleaner, except that it wasn't functioning properly.
"Don't know if you're a supposed 'goddess of water', because you look like a 'demon of gluttony' right now."
Aqua tried to retort but only ended up speaking gibberish, "Such yo're shuped mowf, dumm MEET."
"Hey, don't talk while eating. You're already looking pathetic as hell right now, and stop spraying your food all over me, I might catch your dumbness."
Aqua was already annoyed and pouting in anger. The lunch break was over now, but she was only able to consume only half of her food, in which the other half was wasted and lying on the ground.
They (mostly Kazuma) cleaned up the mess and headed back to work. It was a hard and long day of tiresome work, and everyone was dripping with sweat. As the sun was setting down, it was time for everyone to end their shift for the day, and it was the time of the week where everyone was getting their payouts.
Kazuma went to collect his and Aqua's payment, since he was the better manager when came to money management between the duo. Aqua had already left the workplace an hour ago. Due to her reckless behavior in spending money extravagantly and buying silly items, she started working part-time as a waitress at the adventurers guild. She found that she was actually good at working, and has helped increased the amount of people coming there. This is mostly because a lot of adventurers were there to see her, for the simple reason that she entertains them for free and well, she isn't bad to look at. She is a Goddess after all..
"Hey boy, come 'ere, I want to talk to you about somethin'." The site manager called Kazuma over.
"Yes sir, what is it sir?", Kazuma reported to and asked the boss.
"Look boy, I don' know wha's going on in your life, and I 'ave no intention on poking through it, but you need to be more punctual towar's work. That goes for both you and your frien', so just this once I am not going to be deducing your pay, but if this happens again I will be forced to not pay you two at all, Got it kid?"
The boy's brunette eyes lit up with happiness as he bowed in gratitude to his kindness and mercy, "Thank you so much, sir, I won't let you down again. I promise."
The boss put his hand on Kazuma's shoulder as he knew with confidence that he will keep his promise, "That's more like it. You two are sum' of our best workers, the girl especially. These walls 'ave never been this symmetrical and strong, yet beautiful at the same time. She works so fast like she is using some sort of magic. You two are more than jus' great assets to this team."
"Don't worry, Sir, I'll make sure to talk with her later." Kazuma to reassured him.
"There's only question I wanna ask you 'ere: are there any problum's between you two? If there are I can try helpin' you two reconcile and such."
The sudden change in topic surprised kazuma, "What do you mean by that?"
"Say if there were a fight or disagreement had between the two of you, I can help provide you with sum advice."
Kazuma, fully understanding the situation he found himself in, intervened, "It's nothing to worry about, sir. We just got into some silly fights like usual."
"I hope it is "nothin' to worry about". 'Ey, you two are tryin' to become adventurers, right?" The boss asked Kazuma as he was preparing to leave.
"Yes, we've been trying to gain some finance to pursue our dream of exploring the world. I was assigned the adventurer class and the girl is an Archpriest.", Kazuma answered, devoid of any happiness, indicating that he wasn't happy with his results, "What makes you ask that, Boss?", Kazuma questioned the curious boss man.
Then atmosphere around them changed as a concerned look materialized on the boss's face. He replied in slow but pensive voice, "You do remind me of my son. He was an adventurer too, full of energy and joy. He was a bit oldr' than you and more musculr'." Kazuma twitched an eyebrow in offense.
"So is he out of town right now?"
"I'm afraid he is no longr' with us now. He has passed on………"
A grim silence fell between them, with the shocked worker trying to find the right words to say something to him, but figured that it was best to not say anything at all. He just remained silent.
"He was quite arrogant and a lonr'. He was a great adventurer, very strong and skilled in his early ages, he was evn' ahead of some of the older young'ins. He even became one of the best in this 'ere town, so he went on to visiting the big cities and explore a bun'ch. His problem was that he flied solo, nev'r formed or joined other adventurer groups, believing that all he needed was himself. Eventually one day he went on a search mission in a dungeon, and nev'r came back. The search parties came back with just his equipment and a bloody dagger from the dungeon. I nev'r even got to tell him about how proud I was before he died alone that day."
Kazuma had prior experience to dying before, only difference was that he was reborn afterwards. He had it worse, dying as his doctors were giggling and chuckling. What broke him was when he heard about his parents laughing to themselves after died. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the boss man.
"I am so sorry for your loss, sir. I wouldn't have asked if I knew about him."
"You don't hav' to, boy. It was his choice, after all. I nev'r was able to stop him once he made up his mind about anythin'. All I can say is it doesn't matt'r if you are one of the strongst', fastst' and quick wittd' you are, adventuring is job of uncertainty. That's why people form guilds, giving people a safe havn' and pairin' them up with othr' adventurers. The way I see it, it helps people like my son feel safe with peers who they can trust and rely on."
Kazuma slowly understood the point boss man was trying to make, added to why he viewed the guild in that perspective. "I see what you're trying to tell me, sir. I also promise that I will work on my relationship skills with other people, and be more grateful of my life."
"I'm happy you got what I was tryin' to say, kid. Are you two becomin' adventurers to fight against the demon kin's army?"
"Well that's the plan, I guess.", Kazuma replied.
"Then I suggest you recruit more people into your party. Maybe a magic user with strong spells, or a member on the front lines protecting y'all. They can't always guarantee safety, but they surely care about you deep down.
"Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me, sir." Kazuma bowed to the boss man and began walking away. "You are still young, kid. There is so much life ahead of you, so don't waste it on reckless actions. There can be many things to do besides adventuring."
"I'll keep that in mind, then.", Kazuma trailed off as he waved goodbye to boss man. By the time he left the construction site it was dusk, meaning that he was a little late and reeked of sweat and dirt on his white t-shirt. He decided to take a quick stop to the public bath to clean himself.
'Ahhhh! Nothing like a relaxing hot bath after a day of intense labor.', Kazuma slowly sank deeper in the bath with his thoughts about his day, with the boss man's words sticking with him more than he initially thought.
'Form strong relationships, huh? Like hell she'd ever listen to what I say, however it is true that I'll need a bigger team.'
" Well, living as a trader doesn't sound that bad, especially with my high luck stat. I do just want an easy and peaceful life. It might not have a harem, but it's whatever. " he mused to himself.
'Maybe I'll go buy her some wine, it makes everything better for her, I guess.'
After a long, refreshing bath, Kazuma came out fresh and energetic; He stopped by the liquor shop and bought a the nicest wine bottle, then headed up to the guild.
By the time he reached the guild, it was nighttime and packed with adventurers. At this time most of the visitors come to collect the rewards of their quests for the day. He spotted Aqua doing some of magic tricks to a crowd of adoring adventurers.
'Nothing unusual about that.'
She was wearing the same dress as the other waitresses, Which made her look like a beautiful maid.
'The sight of her in a maid-like dress is honestly amusing to me. Not because I like her or anything, but I get to order her around.', Kazuma thought to himself, giggling at the idea of making that bratty Goddess serve his wishes.
'Well, she might not be an actual maid, but this is still too good for me to complain.'. He went inside the guild, greeted Luna like usual, and saw some of his fellow adventurers waving at him to join their table, but he made some excuse to go sit at an empty table.
Luckily a group just left their table after getting their quest payments.
He quickly swiped the table for himself. A waitress approached him, asking for his order.
Kazuma was processing how he was going to approach this matter without conflict, but find a common ground to have an apology from both sides.
"Umm, could I change waitress, miss?", Kazuma said, internally debating on whether what he said came as rude or not.
"What?", the girl said with a hint of hostility in her tone, her calm and polite demeanor faded quickly.
"Excuse me Sir, but do you have a problem with me, personally?."
"Oh no no no no, you've got it all wrong! See, I just want to talk to her.", Kazuma said, pointing towards the blue haired girl still entertaining the crowd in the middle of the guild..
"You mean Aqua?", The waitress questioned.
"Yes, yes."
"Oh. Umm, ok, but I don't think she would like talking to people right now, she did come here looking agitated, blabbering about a "disgusting NEET" before showing off her great party tricks."
"I guessed accurately well, then. You don't have to tell her that it's me, instead just say that someone is looking for her. Just do it as a favor for me, please."
The waitress eventually gave in to his request and plea.
"Ok, I will try to get her attention, then, but only for this one time and no guarantees."
The girl made her way towards Aqua.
She tapped on Aqua's shoulder to get her attention, whilst she was busy showing off her nature's beauty.
She turns around to face her co-worker with concern.
"Umm, hey Aqua, there's someone here who wants to see you and your umm… tricks."
"Really? Well, then they're in luck! My talent reaches out to people who appreciate great art." Aqua spun around gleefully.
Aqua approached the table she was told to head towards, only to find a smug NEET sitting there.
'Why is he here right now, of all places.', her optimism dissipated with her realization.
She went to confront him at the front of table.
Kazuma may have cornered himself. He mustered up the courage to go out of his way to have the waitress call for Aqua to serve him, and now he was getting nervous, contemplating on what he wants to say or ask of her when it came to meeting with her. He gave up and left it all up to luck on whether this would end nicely for either him or the blue haired goddess. he was riding a sluggish train of thoughts until he heard an irritated voice.
"So what do you want, sir ?"
He came here to apologize about the scuffle they had earlier in the morning; He had planned to sort it all out in a civil way and end with an apology from each other. The chances of that were thrown into the trash with the tone of her voice.
"Uhhh… nothing, really. Don't you have work to do somewhere else?" Kazuma half-assedly responded.
"Well, someone told me that a person from this table here was looking for me, so I assume you have something to say to me.", She pouted with her eyes closed and arms crossed.
"I dunno know what you're on about, I was just sitting here admiring your work ethics. Now go on ahead, I don't want you wasting my time here."
"Well, someone told me that a person from this table here was looking for me", the fist-gesturing waitress repeated, "I too don't wanna waste time on you. I was busy too, you know." Aqua twitched an eyebrow as her eyes opened.
"I don't know who told you about that, but I never called for you here." Kazuma caved in to doing the exact opposite of what he planned to do initially, making their situation worse instead of solving it.
Aqua immediately became infuriated, turning her back and heels away from Kazuma. She marched herself out of the guild.
' Great. So much for being an anti cliché. Congrats, stupid NEET, you blew it. You had one chance, and you fumbled with every corner of the circumstance.' Kazuma cursed to himself within his thoughts. He slammed a fist on the table, hurting himself with a loud bang, and earning some weird looks from the bystanders.
"DAMMIT I have some shitty luck", he muttered, realizing that his plan failed even before it started. He hurried outside for a walk to help clear his thoughts.
' what am I supposed to do now? I can never understand her, no matter how much I try. I mean, I fight and bicker with that self-centered Goddess for breakfast, but now it feels like a wall is placed between us now. Usually she'd have calmed down by now.'
He stopped walking and took a deep breath.
Just then a girl about his age came up to him and started looking at him, a mischievous smile forming as she approached the wandering adventurer.
She had short brown hair and eyes, and dawned a long tunic. Her pants reached up to her knees.
"Hey, do I know you?" Kazuma said, surprised from the sudden appearance of the strange figure.
"No, but I do. You're that new adventurer with the Archpriest girl, aren't you? Your name is Kazuma, right? Not everyday we get young new adventures, especially one who can start out with such a high level job."
Kazuma was getting quite fed up whilst being reminded that his stats sucked. Everything besides his luck, even though that hasn't proven itself to be working out for him.
"If you are here to talk to me like this, then go ahead, I don't have anywhere to be right now."
"Oh no no no, I wasn't trying to annoy you or anything, I just wanted to meet with you for the first time. Rumors say that you aren't from around this place, and you usually wear a very weird whenever you are out and bound in town. They also call you a massive brute."
"Hey! Who says I'm a brute! Tell me who is tarnishing my reputation right now."
Kazuma fumed with anger, crossing his arms together in frustration.
"They're just rumors I heard from random people. I personally wouldn't say they're rude or disrespectful, in all honesty."
"I am not at all a brute. I just like my girls big."
The stranger giggled at his shameless exchange, which only boosted Kazuma's confidence in speaking with her.
"You are quite the interesting guy. How about going somewhere for a beer? It's on me."
Kazuma was hesitant in taking up her offer, but given how downhill his day has been up to that point, he sure could use a break and talk with some nice company.
Before they stopped at the nearest pub, the girl gave Kazuma some money to buy two beers.
"Aren't you gonna buy the drinks yourself?", Kazuma questioned, raising a brow.
"I would do it myself, but I want to try to avoid talking to many people, so staying in there would make me feel uncomfortable."
Avoiding people. That was something Kazuma was familiar with all too dearly. He used to stay indoors, only ever venturing outside for his bare necessities or for his brief school days.
"Hey, did you get all that?"
"Oh! Umm… yeah, I'll go get it, then."
He quickly went inside, paid for two mugs of beer to borrow, and came back with each beer on separate hands. After they chugged both their drinks, he went back to return the mugs.
"Fuuuhhhhweeee… My nem is Cynthia, by the wey." The girl lended out her hand.
Kazuma promptly took the hint and shook it with pride.
"You cen call me Kajuma, even ef you alredee do that."
After exchanging names, they just stood there in silence, patiently waiting to become sober.
"Hey, Kazuma, wanna take a stroll around the city with me?"
"Sure, why not.", Kazuma obliged.
Cynthia beamed with happiness. She grabbed his hand and began walking through Axel in the night.
A frustrated Aqua went back to her audience, but stopped in her tracks when she found that they had left already.
'Huh, now they're all gone. Thanks so much, stupid NEET, why do you always have to mess things up for me everytime…'
She went up to the receptionist Luna, and limped heavily around her desk.
"It seems like our star employee is looking very apathetic today."
"Yeah… I had a terrible morning, got into a fight. Twice; and now my crowd has left." Aqua said pessimistically, circling an index finger on the reception desk.
"Let's finish shifts and sit down over there in the corner."
"…"
"I know just the thing to cheer you up."
Luna pulls out a special wine bottle with an intricate design carved onto the center..
Aqua eyes lit up with curiosity at the sight of the bottle.
"Isn't that the expensive wine served for only special occasions?"
"Yes, this may not be a special occasion and such, but just for this one time I will make an exception for you. Here you go."
Luna fills her wine glass drink, and Aqua takes a sniff of it before tasting the shiny red liquid with a sip.
"So, you fancy the taste?"
"Yeah, dis' is sum grate stuff.", she chugs it down like glass of water.
"AHH, wan moore, pleeese."
"You were supposed to take little sips at a time, Aqua, not slurping it one go. I'm sorry, but this is all I can give you, I don't want to get caught serving more for free."
Aqua lackadaisically pouted in response, wishing she could drink more of this glorious wine. Eventually she sobered down.
"Did you have a fight with Mr. Kazuma this morning?"
"Please don't bring up that reclusive NEET."
"Sorry. I wasn't trying to make you uneasy, but I just wanted to understand why you look bitter when you come to work everyday. I hear that you two always bicker a bunch."
"We always bicker because he's always mean to me, he never spoils me with comfort and luxury, and he always calls me useless."
"He doesn't seem like that kind of rude person to me, though."
"oh, you have no idea how I live with that NEET everyday.", Aqua spoke in anguish.
"Please calm down, Aqua."
The blue goddess turned her head towards the ground.
If you really hate the way he treats you, then why do choose to stay with him?"
That question snapped Aqua out of a trance she trapped herself in since she came to this world.
"What?"
"Well, all I'm saying is that if he is that bad of a person, then shouldn't you leave him? You are an Archpriest after all, there are a lot of people out there who would love to have you as a member in their party."
"….."
"I never really thought of it like that."
'I… I can't leave him like that. Not until the demon king is defeated.'
'We have a deal, so I just can't just go on my own choice.'
"Do you have a reason for that, or is he not as bad as you say?" Luna asked.
'I can't tell you. I just can't tell you that I am the goddess of water, and a scummy NEET dragged me here when I was sitting in my realm.'
"I can't leave him, but I also can't stand him either. I can't tell you the reason why, but I just have to stay by his side."
"Seems like you two have some history together.", an eyebrow was raised on the receptionist's curious face.
"Listen, Aqua. I don't understand the full extent of your relationship with him outside of work, but I suggest you two reconcile sometime soon. I lack any experience of living with anyone of the opposite gender, but I think leaving a situation like yours as it is will only have long-term consequences down the line."
'Might as well change things for the better now, I can't see the demon king going down any time soon.'
"So for your own sake, just try to mellow down and have a talk to him. I'm sure he can understand your issues with him, he seems like a reasonable guy. And if it does not work out, then take my advice and leave this abusive relationship of yours and find a different, more nicer party."
Luna's encouragement finally gave Aqua the strength she yearned for.
"You actually think he will listen? He might still be the stubborn man I saw him as."
"Just make sure to not come off as bossy when detailing your problems with him. And act cute when doing so, that might help a bit.", Luna winked with a grin plastered on her face.
"You don't need to tell me to be cute. I am goddess, for goddess's sake."
"Aqua, I know you think very highly about yourself, but please don't go around proclaiming yourself as a goddess. People will think your crazy and delusional."
"But I am one." Aqua puffed softly with a dejected expression.
"Yeah, yeah. Just go find him, or else he might try to hook up with a more cuter girl in the middle of the night or something."
Kazuma and Cynthia were strolling around the streets of Axel, the night radiating a perfect atmosphere, the moon scattering with it's brilliance on the streets, a cool summer breeze passing by, and the young adventurer was walking alongside a girl he felt wasn't crazy enough to drive him nuts.
' Huh. this calmness feels weird, given my luck. Even walking like this feels surreal, like getting kissed by a crush, and I'm gonna wake up anytime now in my room knowing that it was all a dream and I'll never see it again.'
'Should I try my luck and hold her hand? We only just met an hour or so ago, so maybe I should just walk along and leave things as it should be.'
Kazuma was going through some internal conflict stuff, and wasn't paying much attention to the fact that he walking closer to Cynthia only a couple of inches beside her.
For a brief moment their hands brushed against each other, the girl instinctively looking towards Kazuma with a surprised face, whilst Kazuma took a second to register what happened in the past few seconds.
"SorryIdidn'tmeantodothat! * cough* I was preoccupied with something, and I wasn't focusing well. I'm so sorry. it just happened I was preoccupied with something. I'm sorry."
The girl didn't respond with anything, and just kept on walking again, Kazuma following behind her.
' She doesn't seem to be mad at me, but I'm still hoping to the other Goddesses above that I didn't screw it up by doing that.', Kazuma profusely thought to himself, and kept on walking.
After walking a few more blocks meters across town, Kazuma felt a sudden warmth embraced over his hand. He looked down to deduce the cause of this sensation.
The girl was holding his hand ever lightly.
"If you wanted this, you should have just asked.", Cynthia turned towards his him with a coy smile.
Kazuma couldn't believe this, his luck was playing out in the way he wanted. This might end up being the best day of his newly reincarnated life.
Both of them reached the entrance to a secluded alley. Cynthia stood there, and thanked him for giving her some company and chatting with her earlier.
"Thanks for accompanying me tonight, Kazuma, it was fun. Hope to see you again soon."
"Yeah, no problem. It was fun for me too." Kazuma responded shyly, forcefully rubbing his head back and forth.
Cynthia and Kazuma continued to stand there. After a few moments both of them haven't made any movements, she slowly moved towards him, and put her hands around his waist.
"I haven't been with many boys, but something about you feels different. I don't know what I'm feeling right now, but would you mind if I kiss you?"
Surprised by this sudden request, Kazuma's shut-in instincts started switching between flight or fight mode. His common sense saying ' no, wait. It might be a trap', while his heart wanted it to come true. To put it simply, he was quite frightened yet aroused.
"Uh, I don't know. We just met, but if-"
"Sshh don't say anything.", The girl cut him off mid-sentence. "Don't talk, just be in the moment."
Kazuma was shaking profusely. He started feeling conscious of something wrong happening in the moment, but he really didn't want to miss his chance. The chance for something truly good to happen in his new life, even if it was only once. He closed his eyes, and leaned forward for a tender kiss.
What he felt instead was something sharp pressed against his neck. He opened is eyes to see a dagger, not as big as an ordinary kitchen knife, but sharp enough for him to feel it.
Reality was setting in upon the dumbfounded adventurer. It was as if someone pulled the rug off from under his feet, the dawning realization that a romantic event has turned into a life threatening situation.
A situation he wanted to not believe was happening.
"Why are you doing this?", he slowly pushed his hands in the air.
"Oh, poor boy. Didn't your mother teach you to not trust strangers?", The girl smirked, followed by a grim laugh.
"Now, quickly hand over all your valuables, or else I will slice your throat."
Kazuma was convinced that she wasn't joking. He observed with the lack of nervousness and hesitance in her voice that she had done this before.
He quickly threw his wallet in front her.
"Go ahead, take it. I prefer living, to be honest." He said with emptiness in his tone.
Cynthia slowly backed away, with the dagger still drawn to him. She Bent down to pick up the adventurer's wallet.
"By the way, nice panties you have there. This new x-ray skill is amazing, cute black ones."
The girl screamed in shame, and put her hands down to cover herself.
"KYAAAHHH! Pervert!"
Kazuma's bluff worked, the girl let her guard down. He proceeded to punch her square up the jaw, which sent her reeling towards the alley. It wasn't much, but it gave him enough time to pick up his wallet and flee.
"Suck it, bitch." He made a run for it, the entrance of the alley within sight. Cynthia was scrambling back on her feet, having quickly recovered from the initial punch. She set her eyes on him and started chasing him down like a feral beast.
A concerned Aqua was traversing through the streets, looking to find her partner..
' Where did this NEET head off to now? I swear this guy causes even more trouble without me.'
She was informed by some local shopkeepers that they had seen him going somewhere with a girl a few minutes ago.
' It's dark our here, what is he thinking? A random girl could spell trouble of sorts.'
She sped up her pace.
Kazuma was running fanatically with no sense of direction whatsoever. It was simply a mad dash, with the thieving Cynthia hot on her heels behind him.
"Why are you still chasing me, I gave you my wallet didn't I?!", Kazuma tried bluffing once more, but she remained unfazed.
'I just need to head towards the market and lose her there.', His legs were getting tired and he was running out of breath.
The desperate Adventurer took a quick left and sprinted with all his turns.
"Just one more turn." He shifted 90 degrees to the right when suddenly,
" BAAM!" He crashed head-first into someone, toppling themselves onto their butts. His head reeled back. He lifted his head with both hands and rubbed his forehead.
"Note to self: don't try running through tight alleyways next time.", Kazuma mumbled to himself.
He slowly opened his eyes to see blue-haired figure appear on the ground in front of him, rubbing her forehead in a similar manner.
"Aqua…" Kazuma up to that point had never felt so relieved to see the person in front of him, especially someone he knew.
"Look before you run, dummy. Now you've ruined my hair."
"We'll deal with this later. I'm running from a psycho chasing me down, and we have to get out of here."
"Uh….ok.", she responded.
But before they could leave, the crazy Cynthia perked her head around the corner.
"Now who is this blue bimbo here?", She snarkily remarked towards Aqua.
"I am Aqua, the foremost Archpriest of Axel! I am not a blue bimbo, but rather a goddess!"
" So you are all sorts of delusional too. Doesn't matter, anyways. I'll have to stab you aswell now."
Cynthia lunged towards aqua, her dagger drawn. She moved fast and quickly, covering the distance between them in a second. Aqua barely dodged her attack, and fell on the ground. Kazuma tried kicking her from behind, but she stepped aside and took a swing at him, the dagger narrowly scraped him by the shoulder. A shallow wound formed, and a palmful of blood started oozing from it.
The girl was in a frenzy, trying to fatally wound one of the two targets on her mind, until an intimidating aura sparked from behind from her. Aqua had clenched a fist, making it glow up with different colors.
"Take THIS, GOD BLOW!" The girl instinctively tried to get out of the way, but the Goddess's fist was too fast for her. She got hit in the torso, sending her flying back towards a wall.
"Did you just kill her?", Kazuma asked.
"I dunno, if she is dead I can revive her."
' I'm not even surprised that you have a broken ability like that..' Kazuma couldn't believe that the girl who had troubled him for so long had displayed such broken abilities in a short amount of time.
Kazuma cautiously went to check on the immobile girl to see if her heart was beating. She was still alive.
"Who is this crazy girl, and what were you doing with her?"
"I was escorting a nice lady to her house like a fine gentleman would do."
"So why was she trying to kill you? Did you do something perverted like you always do?"
"Nothing major. I told her that I could see her panties, but that was a lie I came up with when she tried to rob me and threaten to fucking kill me."
"Hah! you're such a pervert, you know."
"Did you even listen to what I said? You're such an imbecile, you know."
"Well this imbecile just saved your life, so be more grateful, Kazuma."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what should we do about her now?."
"We should probably bring her to the guild, they can handle this themselves. I'm so not in the mood to fill out some paperwork right now."
"Alright."
For the first time, they both agreed on something. Kazuma carried Cynthia on his back, even if she weighed more than what he could normally carry as a construction worker."
"Ugh, this chick is heavier than she looks."
"Do you need any help? I can buff your strength if you want."
"I'd appreciate that, thanks.."
Aqua used one of her support spells on him. A soft yellow light started glowing through her hands, and in an instant he was able to carry the unconscious girl like a baby.
They both headed towards the guild, Aqua snickering behind Kazuma for one reason or another. Kazuma had started to get annoyed yet again, but not as much as usual.
"What's so funny back there, oh Goddess of mine?"
"You've always called me stupid and useless before, so I wonder what led to this girl trying to murder you back then."
"What do you mean by- nevermind. It's just that Cynthia here seemed like a nice enough person, nice enough to try kissing me. This doesn't have anything to do with my intelligence, it's just that I'm not built to handle such intimate situations."
"Sure, sure. So, how was it? Did you accept the kiss, or did she leave you hanging?"
"You don't need to know what happened."
They both reached the guild and told Luna about everything that happened. She said, "I will take care of her and inform the right authorities of what transpired tonight."
The duo got ready to return to their stable home.
"Hey, Aqua. Can I talk to you about something?", Kazuma asked with a serious expression.
"Hmm… ok, but how about we do it with this wine I snatched from your table."
"Hey, that's the one I bought for the both of us. I must've left it there."
Kazuma placed both of hands behind his head cross-style.
"I just wanna kick my feet back and go to bed right now. Honestly, this day might have been the worst day of my entire existence.", Kazuma whined in an exhausted tone.
Suddenly the whole area was filed with loud siren noises ringing through the air, the vibrations scaring away the nearby birds.
" WWWIIIIIIOOOOOOORRRRRRR!!!"
" Attention, everyone, this is an emergency warning! The demon king's army has attacked the northern gate! Head towards to the southern gate for evacuation!"
" I repeat, evacuation will be waiting on the southern gate! The demon king's army has launched an attack on the northern gate, all residents should avoid going to the northern gate!"
" All high level adventurers gather at the guild!"
"….Fuck."
Kazuma froze up in terror. His exact words had stabbed him once more in the back, turning his a bad day to a nightmare in an instant.
"For god's sake, give. Me. A. BREAK!" Kazuma shrieked in a defeated demeanor.
"Kazuma, we have to help them at the guild. Hurry!" Aqua calmly pleaded to him.
"Hell naw, there's no way in hell I'm going there of all places. Let's head to the south gate instead."
"But aren't we here to defeat the demon king? We should at least lend a hand."
"Are you unhinged or something? We were barely able to survive getting eaten by some frogs, so going head-first into something like this means certain death for both you and me."
"But-"
"Look, Aqua, I appreciate you trying to help those guys at the guild, but other guys like me aren't strong enough to handle these situations. If we are to someday defeat the demon king, I'll need to survive first."
"But Kazuma-" Kazuma grabbed her hand and made a dash for the emergency evacuation.
"I don't have time to argue with you anymore. You're all I have in this world right now, so you better understand and listen to me right now!"
Aqua fell silent upon hearing those words. As they continued to walk, neither of them had said a single word.
That was until a burning rock fell down behind them.
"Shit, they've already started attacking the city. We need to hurry now."
They ran as if their life depended on it, which was sort of true. All the fatigue Kazuma had disappeared as a rush of adrenaline took over. He couldn't feel tired or pain anymore, just a pure rush pulsing through his body.
He was dead-set on leaving Axel alive.
After running long enough, they had finally reached the southern gates of the town, but the scene there had only worsened a different fear within him.
Thousands of people were flooding the place, a metaphorical asylum with no order or management, residents screaming and thrashing through the gate. All the carts were overloaded with people leaving without any supplies.
"What do we do now, Kazuma?"
"We will find a way out. I promise you that, Aqua. Follow me."
The crowd had become very dense. Going through it was out of the realm of possibility, and going around would take too much time.
"Kazuma, we're stuck here. What should we do now?"
Kazuma heart rate started beating faster, his feet trembling and sweat started becoming apparent down his scalp. There wasn't much time to come up with a proper plan, all while he was put under some intense pressure.
He kicked his brain into overdrive and stormed through some scenarios in his head.
"Hey Aqua, do you have any more support spells?"
"Yeah, I have lots of them."
"Ok. Then I want you to use one of them to buff me and you up. And if you can, put this area under a barrier."
"Now try boosting me into the air above this crowd, I wanna get to the front and see what's taking so long."
"Ok, but you aren't planning on leaving me behind, right?", Aqua asked with a worried expression.
"Don't fret, oh Goddess of mine, for I am the brain and you are the brawn of the team, maybe not physical brawn but power nonetheless. So If problems arise, I'll need to you help deal with them. Just don't do anything that can worsen said problems.
"I'm not that stupid, you know.", Aqua retorted.
After agreeing to the plan, both of them began setting up in-position. Aqua had already buffed him up with his strength, speed and durability, whilst she was increasing only her strength to the limit.
"Ok, let's do this." Kazuma ran towards her open palms, and with all her might she threw him upwards, boosting him flawlessly. Kazuma flew several meters across the crowd, and landed on a cart that was stuck between the gate. The crowd had toppled it over during the overwhelming rush.
"So this is a problem and a half."
Kazuma dropped down to approach the people trying to get the wreckage out of the entrance.
"Hey guys, I think I have an idea on how remove this."
Their faces lit up with a sense of hope.
"Tell us what should we do then, kid.", A guy said nonchalantly.
"First off, I want some people to stand by on other side of the gate;"
They followed his order without question, leaving 5 or so people on one side of the cart.
He took double the amount of men with him as they climbed over the cart and got in-position.
"Now on the count of three, I need the people over there to push this cart and have us pull it at the same!", Kazuma yelled out to the men on the back of the toppled cart.
"We've tried pushing it like that before, you think pulling might work?", the merchant beside him asked.
"Trust me, having people on both sides will make a big difference."
The people gave him a blank expression, starting to judge him based on his frame and size.
Both sides were standing on their respective positions.
"And also on the count of three, I also need every one to pull from this side as hard as they can as it's being pushed from the other side, and make sure that each one of you pulls this diagonally in an outward direction."
Everyone on the pulling side had understood his instructions, and nodded in response.
"Okay, everyone, ready yourself! Three… two… one… GO!"
A tussle ensued, with the people inside and outside the gate pushing and pulling with all their might, the cart moving ever slightly.
"Hey, I saw it move! keep up the pressure, guys!", Someone shouted from the pushing side of the cart
They kept pushing and pulling until the cart finally moved out the gates way, as it got dragged out completely onto the outskirts of Axel.
The crowd roared with cheer, until they realized that the town was still being attacked behind them.
"At least we're finally free.", they all looked at each other and started howling.
The evacuation process picked up pace, and eventually more wagons filled with people started speeding away from Axel.
The crowd had dwindled to a few hundreds now, and after some heavy hauling only a few carriages were left waiting for the leftover residents.
Their luck had seemingly started running out, as a heap trouble suddenly appeared in the sky. A group of winged demons began hovering above the evacuation site, their gazes fixed on studying their targets before attacking.
They flew with wings like birds, but moved around in a humanoid body. Some were carrying spears, and others were able to cast fireballs.
"Aqua!", Kazuma got the attention of the distant Goddess, who was making her way out the gate, "hold off those flying guys for a while, we still have some people here!", Kazuma shouted as he was helping to escort the people to the remaining carts.
"I know, I know, you don't need to keep asking for my help, ya know?", She clenched her fists, squaring up to fight an inevitable battle.
Her luck wasn't completely out, since there were some people around her who happened to also be adventurers, and they were willing to aid in her distraction.
"Hey lady, you wouldn't mind if we lend a hand or two, would you?"
"I would be very glad if you did so.", Aqua beamed genuinely towards the Adventurers.
The monsters began their attack, diving onto their targets, ready to lay waste to their enemies.
Demons and ghosts were in-fact an easy match-up when it came to Aqua, since she was like poison to them. The tricky part came to how she was going to hit them while they were flying in circles around them.
The Adventurers had only a few ranged fighters, and they were running low on ammo and supplies.
So Aqua went ahead to do one of the few things that she was good at, and provided them with some support spells.
Kazuma was nearly done with the remaining departures, and soon joined them.
"How's the situation here, guys?", He tried to get a grasp on the situation at hand.
"We're having trouble hitting these damn demons, any tips?", an archer replied to his query.
Kazuma asked for his bow and arrow. He proceeded to stand there, holding a bow on his left hand, and an arrow on his right.
' I guess I'll give this a try.', It was the perfect time for him to try his new snipe skill, which he learned a week ago. It proved to be a complete waste on some frogs, but today it could be a lifesaver.
He pulled back the string with the arrow attached to it and took a deep, calm breath to relax his nerves. He took aim and shot at a demon charging down at him.
" Snipe!"
The arrow blitzed through the air, piercing the demon through in his right wing. It wasn't a headshot, but the minion lost control and smashed onto the ground, dissolving into red paste.
"HO-YEAH! Nailed him."
Kazuma rejoiced, the adventurers watched him in awe as went on to drop half of the demon flyers with the few arrows he had left.
"Man, you're natural at this.", the archer from before said as he was given back his bow.
"That was probably all luck, though.", a female Archpriest interjected.
(She was kind of right, since Snipe mostly uses the luck of the user to multiply the damage and accuracy factor.)
Kazuma finally killed the demons who were able to cast fireballs, due to them having AOE attacks (Area of effect). This gave him an opportunity to get out of there without being attacked from a lack of foresight.
"Hey Aqua, hurry up we're leaving." Kazuma signaled to his partner.
Both of them made a run for the last wagon left standing there.
The driver had gotten restless after waiting for them, shouting at them to hurry up.
After the fire casters were slain the spear demons were now charging at the two runners mercilessly. They had no time to look back, so they resorted to either running forward, hopping, or dodging.
Kazuma had finally made it In the nick of time. The wagon was now loaded with everyone ready to depart, leaving out only one remaining water Goddess, who was running like a child who saw a monster from under her bed.
"Hurry!", Everyone called in unison.
The demons had now started targeting the last wagon.
And the coachman's patience was on the verge of leaving.
Just as Kazuma leaned out of the cart to extend his hand out to Aqua, the driver had started slowly moving the carriage forward.
She was just in arms-reach, lengths away.
"Kazuma-san, don't leave me here!", Aqua wailed in despair.
Just when she was about the grab his hand, she tripped over a pebble and fell down.
Before anyone could even react, Kazuma had jumped out of the carriage to quickly pick up his teammate.
It wasn't done with any heroic intention or motive in his mind, it was simply out of a wild instinct. Maybe it was the mere sight of a girl in oncoming danger that triggered an old, painful memory from his past life, but this time the danger was real.
He had quickly rushed to her aid, and helped get her back on her feet. The driver reluctantly slowed down the carriage so that they could catch up.
"Kazuma-"
"No time to talk, Aqua, just buff my speed so that I can run faster now, please.", she swiftly applied a boost on him, increasing his speed.
The Water Goddess tried to walk with him, but realized that her ankle had been sprained after she fell.
"Aa-ah, ouch. It hurts."
Kazuma immediately thought of using her healing magic, but the demons were already hovering above their heads. There was only one thing he could do in this situation, no matter how cliché it seems.
He carrier her like a princess and dashed towards the steadily-moving wagon.
It was embarrassing for both of them, especially Aqua. She wanted to say something about the predicament, but hesitated doing anything stupid in the moment.
She slowly healed her leg in the meantime and tried to tell the sprinting Adventurer to put her down, but he didn't listen. All he wanted to do was sit peacefully in the carriage and get the hell of there.
Even with his increased strength and speed, it was still quite difficult for him to run with a girl in his arms.
So he made a logical leap of faith, and threw her with all he could muster.
Aqua successfully landed inside the carriage with a loud THUD.
"Ouch… be a little gentle, next time, Kazuma. I'm still a maiden, you know?"
The driver had started speeding up his horses since he was in danger too. Kazuma, now being free of any burden on his hands, picked up his pace, jumping towards the carriage and landed just on its trunk. A few of the passengers caught his hand and tried to pulling him in.
He was halfway inside the carriage as his legs were being dragged on the ground below
"Quick, pull me in! I don't want to die here." He shouted.
"We're trying!", Aqua reached her hand out to pull him with all her might.
So with a final tug, they managed to pulled him in. The driver whiplashed the horses to go full throttle; they zoomed out , leaving the town of Axel in dust and gravel.
"Haha! We made it, Kazuma.", Aqua made a sigh of relief, whilst the brunette Adventurer remained silent.
A spear had pierced him right in the chest. A pool of blood spilled onto the wooden board of carriage.
Everyone saw this and gasped in horror. Aqua's expression quickly shifted from relief to terror in mere seconds. Her face became pale. She had seen people die so many times before, but this time she didn't feel indifferent to it. Her expression was left uncanny.
Kazuma was barely conscious, his vision was becoming blurry and the other people's words started echoing through his ears. The last thing he saw was a look of melancholy on his partner face. A face he never thought he'd see from the Goddess of Water herself, contrasted with her stupid wailing from all their days together.
He had finally accepted his fate, after all hustling for so long he knew he couldn't escape fate.
With all the strength he could muster, he put one of his bloody hands on the dejected Goddess' cheek, his fingers leaving trails of blood on her face.
His blurry vision suddenly went dark, and the echoes went mute.
Kazuma went into an eternal slumber.