"I see... Thank goodness. I've been anxiously awaiting for the arrival of someone such as yourself. My name is Darkness. My calling is that of a crusader! Please let... Please let me j-join your party!"

A crusader huh? So she's also a tank?

Kazume seems troubled to reply to her request. "Ummm..."

"Those two slimy girls earlier are your allies, right? What in the world did that to them?!" she ask, and for some reason she seems thrilled. I expect her to look at us with disgust, or at least a bit cautious.

"Oh uh... They're swallowed by giant frogs and the mucus-"

"What?! It's worse than I imagined..."

Kazuma couldn't even finish when she interrupts him. Wait, is she... panting? I looked at Kazuma, and he notices it too.

Suddenly, she seems to snap out of her fantasy. "No wait! As a knight, I cannot overlook such horror befalling two girls of such tender age!"

Her words sound charismatic, but her expression... how should I put it. Horny? Arouses? Maybe both. Kazuma also seems weirded out by her expression.

"No, I'd advise against it. It's hard to say how useful one of our member is, another can only use magic once a day, this guy right here just literally start adventuring today and I was the lowest job class." Kazuma tries to utter every excuse for her not to join our party. And I decide to help him out.

"Oh yeah, I'm already the tank in this party by the way "

"There's nothing wrong with having two tanks in a party!"

Okay, make sense. Although it would be less practical.

" Our party is a total trash, so I recommend you look elsewher- Ow, ow, ow!" Kazuma grunts in pain when Darkness grabs on his arm.

"That's even better!"

How the heck that's better?!

I took a step back, worrying I'll become her next victim. Sorry Kazuma, can't help you this time.

"The truth is, this was a bit difficult for me to say, but while I have confidence in my strength and stamina,I am clumsy... So, ummm... None of my attack ever hit their mark." She explained, embarrassedly.

How she can never hit the mark? I mean, come on! I never had a proper swordsmanship lesson, but even I can properly hit a mark if it's big enough.

Kazuma is still trying to pry his arm away from this lady grips.

"As such, I'll charge to the frontline. So please use me as a shield!" As she says that, her face is inches away from Kazuma's, causing that guy to blush like crazy.

Okay, now this is getting really weird.

"Sorry, but what the heck?! We could never use anyone as a shield!" I try to reason with her. Big mistake.

She looks at me, and before I can move, her right hand reaches my arm and grab it tightly. Shit, I can feel like my bone almost being crushed by her force.

"It would be my pleasure!"

Okay, this lady is either really desperate or crazy. No in between.

"Well, we get eaten by monsters in every battle."

"That would be even more my pleasure!"

After hearing her response to Kazuma's bluff, I've confirmed. She's the latter.

*KO*NO*SU*BA*

Finally! Kazuma and I managed to escape that crazy crusader lady! He tells her he and I had drunk too much and needed to head home. Luckily, she believed it and excuses us to go. We come across Aqua and Megumin on the way out and pulled them away with us.

I'm on my way with the others when Kazuma asks me. "Oi, Fajar. Where would you be staying tonight?"

...

Good question. Never think of that. I just blindly follow them to wherever they're staying.

"I... don't know. I just got here, remember?" I say. "You should go check the guild. They also provide night inn for adventurers." Megumin suggest. Well, that might work, if I had any money with me left.

Wait a minute...

"Hey Kazuma?" "Yes, I'm Kazuma." "Could I have my share of the reward money right now?" I ask him.

He just shrugs. "Ehhh, I don't see why not." He open the pouch he use to carry the money earlier, counting it and hand me the exact amount of my share. "Here. 27500 Eris." I take the money from him and put it on my own pouch.

"Thanks Kazuma. Really appreciate it." I say. I bid the others farewell and head back to the guild. But first, I have to make sure the crazy lady isn't there.

Fortunately, she's already left. I enter the guild and the only person still at the reception is Luna. Wow, she's really a hard-working person, isn't she?

"Oh, welcome Fajar. Nice to see you again." Luna greets me as she notices me. "Hey Miss Luna. I'm here to ask about the guild's inn. Is there any available room left?" I ask.

She checks at a book before turning back to me. "Yeah, there are. We offer a room with the lowest rate of 350 Eris a night."

"Nice. I would like a room for one night." I said, taking out the money from my pouch and hand it to her. She took the money and give me a key attached to a wooden keychain with the room.

"Oh, and Fajar? I believe this belongs to you." Luna took something from behind the counter and put it on the countertop. A bag. I look at the content inside.

It's my Earth clothes.

Damn... I must have left it behind when I first met the others earlier at the table.

"Oh I totally forget about those. Thanks Luna! How do you know there are mine?" "Well... I look the clothes and the only people who wear that kind of weird clothes are you and Kazuma. So I thought that must me yours." She answers with a smile.

Ouch... Did she really have to put it that bluntly.

"Errr... Anyway, thank you Miss Luna." I say, taking my leave.

Not even a minute later, I return. "Which way is the inn?" "That way." I look at the direction Luna is pointing. A stairs leading to the next floor of the guild at the back. "Thank you."

I go to the next floor, searching for my room. "104...104...104... There it is!" I use the key to unlock the room and open the door.

The room itself is not too small and not too big, just having enough space for a single bed, a night stand and a desk complete with a chair. Attached to the room is a private bathroom for me to use. Well, for as little as 350 Eris, this isn't too bad.

I take a long shower since the smells of the frogs still bothering my nose. I change into my old black tank top and khaki pants and land my super exhausted body onto the bed.

"Ugghhhh... Today is a such exhausting day. And it's just only day one for God sake!" I rant to myself.

I try to close my eyes and sleep. But not even an hour has passed, I get up from my bed. "Dammit! It's hot in here!" And no joke. I'm really sweating like a pig.

I decide to take off my khakis and just sleep in my underpants. Still hot, but at least I'm not soaking in my own sweat.

*KO*NO*SU*BA

KNOCK!

"-ar!"

KNOCK!

"-ajar!"

KNOCK!

"Fajar!"

"Ugghhh..." I wake up in the next morning at a knocking on my door and someone is calling my name from the other side.

As much as I want to stay in bed, I force myself to get up and make a beeline to the door. I open the door and in front of me is the blue-haired frog food girl, Aqua. "Huh? (Yawn) Oh, hey Aqua. Morning." I said sleepily, scratching my head.

"Fajar! I've been knocking for- WAHHH!!! HAVE SOME DECENCY! YOU'RE TALKING TO A GODDESS!" she says with a bright redden face, covering her eyes.

I'm confused with what she's talking about for a minute, before I look down and realize I'm only wearing my underpants and tank top. "SHIT!"

I quickly close the door and lean to it. "WHAT DO YOU WANT!" I shout from inside. "I WILL FORGIVE YOU THIS TIME SINCE I'M A FORGIVING GODDESS! KAZUMA WANT TO SEE ALL OF US AT THE HALL!" She shouts back, followed by rapid footsteps, running away from my room.

(Sigh) Great. What a way to start a day.

I get to the hall after finish getting changed into my adventure gear. I search for a moment before spotting the others at a countertop, having breakfast. Aqua is nowhere to be seen though. I look around and see her at another table with a group of adventurers, performing party tricks.

"Hey, what's for breakfast?" I ask as I arrive at the countertop. Megumin give me a weird look. "Breakfast? It's already noon!" She said with a full mouth, eating what seems to be a roasted leg of an animal. What animal? I've no absolute idea.

Wow, I passed out till noon. Not that it's not normal even in the real world, but I didn't expect to get up this late.

"Ouh, alright then. What's for lunch?" I said, smiling sheepishly.

"Frog legs." She answers.

What? Frog legs?

"Errr... No thanks. I think I'll pass." I said, then calling a waitress.

"You sure? Megumin's already on her third plate." Kazuma asks. I just shake my head, declining. "Nahh. A set of toast, chicken soup and a cup of coffee, please." I say to the waitress. She notes down my orders. "Alright. Your order will be served shortly." she says, leaving the table.

"So, Kazuma? Why did you call us here?" I ask, as I take a seat next to Megumin.

"Oh right! I was just thinking of taking a few quests today. But before that, how do you learn skills?" Kazuma looks at Megumin for answers. "Huh? How to learn skills? That's easy. You look at the learnable skills section of your adventurer card and choose a skill you want to learn using the points you've earned. Oh yeah, Kazuma you're an adventurer right? In that case you need someone to demonstrate a skill for you to be able to learn them." Megumin explains while munching on her frog's legs.

Wait, then how about me?

"Errr... Megumin? How about me?" I ask her. Megumin give me some strange look. "How about you? Just pick a skill you want to learn." She says. I pull out my adventurer card and show it to her. "It's empty." I say.

"Huh... That's weird. Even level one should've at least one skill that can be learned." Megumin says after looking at my adventurer card. "Hmmm... How about you try leveling up a little bit more. Maybe Berserkers didn't have any skills before reaching a certain level, perhaps?" She continues. I just look at my card, feeling kinda disappointed not being able to learn any skills. "Yeah, maybe."

"Wait, so if I have Megumin to teach me, I can learn explosion magic too?" Kazuma asks, looking at Megumin.

Suddenly, Megumin hops off from seat excitedly. "Exactly! That's exactly right, Kazuma!" She exclaims.

"If you want to learn explosion magic, I'll teach you as much as you want!" She continues, fiery passion in her eyes.

Right, she's an explosion maniac. Of course she's excited when Kazuma mentioned it.

"Heck, is there any other skills worthwhile to learn? No, there certainly is not!" Well, I think I can make a list of all skills worth learning more than explosion, a long list in fact.

"Come, now, and walk the path of explosion with me!" As she said those words, her face is inches away from Kazuma's, almost touching. I just smirk looking at Kazuma's bright blushing face. I may as well enjoy this.

"Hey Kazuma? You okay? Your face seems kinda red." I tease him with a smug face.

He looks at me, as damn, he's not enjoying this as much as I do. "S-Shut up idiot!" He looks back to Megumin and push the girl away from him. "Hey! C-Calm down loli! Besides, I only have three skill points right now..."

"Lo-Loli?"

Suddenly, Megumin seems dejected as Kazuma calls her a loli. She continues to eat her meals, but in small bits. "I'm a loli?" Damn, shits just went down from hundred to zero instantly.

I move from my seat and whisper to Kazuma. "Hey, Kazuma. I think you broke her." I return to my seat and enjoy my meal while he's just sigh, seems to think about something.

"I've been looking for you."

I almost chocked on my drink when I hear that voice. 'Dammit dammit dammit!' I try to calm myself and take the best course of action.

Ignore her.

Don't look back.

I glance a bit at Kazuma, and heck, he sure look wants to be anywhere but here. "You said you had too much drink yesterday and headed straight back home..." the crazy crusader lady, Darkness says to Kazuma as she approaches him. I try my best to hide behind Megumin, which didn't do much considering how small this girl is.

"N-No need to worry!" Kazuma tries to assures her, sweatdropping. "Shall we continue where our conversation left off yesterday? Please let me join your party-"

"I refuse."

In an instant, Kazuma turns her down. Wait, is she... moaning? What the freaking heck?!

"Such a snap decision!" Stop looking too happy you crazy lady!

"Hahahahaha, that wouldn't do Darkness. You can't be too pushy." A voice said from behind. Wait a minute, I know this voice! I snap my head around, and to my luck, it's...

"Chris!" I call her out, happy to see the thief again. Chris notice me and she gave me a friendly grin. "Hey Fajar! Nice to see you again!" she says.

"W-Wait a minute! You know each other?" Suddenly Kazuma asks, confusion in his face. "Yeah! I help this guy when he first gets here." Chris proudly informs him. Out of the blue, Kazuma grabs me by my shirt and pull me to the side. "Excuse us for a minute. Hehehe" He says, awkwardly laugh.

As we are hidden from the others, he shockingly grabs my collar and shake me back and forward. "You know them and you didn't warn me about the crazy lady?!" he screams in my face, hysterically. "W-What the heck Kazuma! I didn't know about that crazy girl! I only know Chris! How the heck could I know she's friend with that Darkness lady?!" I scream back at him. His shaking comes to a halt. "Really?" "Freaking really." He sighs, letting go of my collar and ruffles his hair in distress. "Uggghhhhh... What now?" he asks. "Hmmm... Maybe we should see what Chris has to say?" I suggest, remembering they're still waiting for us. Kazuma nodded, and walk back to the others.

"(sigh) Alright. Sorry for the excuse. Chris, am I right?" Kazuma says, talking to Chris.

Chris nods, give us a wink. "That's right! I'm Chris, a thief, as you can see." She points to Darkness and says, "This girl is my friend, I guess?"

For some reason, Kazuma seems relief when talking to Chris. Well, Chris does have some friendly aura around her.

"You seem to be in need of a useful skill. How about a thief skill?" She offers. Thief skill huh? I wonder what are those. Kazuma seems confused, yet interested.

"It takes a few points to learn, so it's a good value. I'm sure it would come in handy. How about it?" she explains. "Since you're a friend of Fajar, I'll do it for the cost of a drink." she continues, sweeten the offer.

Kazuma seems delighted with the offer. "That's cheap! All right, please do!" he accepts the offer. "Excuse me! One ice-cold drink for this lady over here!"

*KO*NO*SU*BA*

"Is it really okay for me to tag along here?"

Right now, we're in an alleyway, where Chris is going to teach Kazuma the skills. Megumin opts to stay back at the guild while Aqua still performs her party tricks and I decide to tag along since I don't how much my brain cells can handle being around those two.

"I don't mind." Darkness says, standing besides me. Chris is explaining to Kazuma about the skills, but I'm not really interested in hearing them. "Oh yeah, Fajar?" "Hmmm?" I look at Darkness as she calls me. "You said yesterday that you're a tank, am I right? What job are you?" she asks.

"Berserker." I say.

"Berserker?! That's a rare class!" she exclaims, surprised by the information.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I say, not really as thrilled as the first time someone said that to me. "I don't have any skills though." I continue, watching Chris perform a skill called Steal onto Kazuma.

"Why's that?" Darkness asks me with a questioned face. I pull my card and show it to her. "Huh. That's weird." she says. I just shrug it off while putting back my card in my pocket.

"Learn this thief skill yourself, then steal this pouch back from me." Suddenly I hear Chris said. Our attention averts to her and Kazuma. I look at her and indeed, there's a pouch on her hand, probably Kazuma's.

"Errrr... Chris? I would appreciate if you didn't scam my party leader." I say, slightly concern.

Chris just smirks. "He's an adventurer, isn't he? Crossing dangerous bridge comes with the territory." she says. Well, she's not wrong.

Kazuma seems to give it some thought before agreeing with it. Chris instructs him to learn the thief skill, and coincidentally knowing about Aqua's waste of skill points on a party trick.

"Okay! The thief skills you choose are now yours! Come at me anytime!"

"Alright! Whatever I steal from you, don't cry over it!"

Wow, to be honest, I really pumped up to see what Kazuma can do with that skill. He's my leader after all, so I really have high expectations for him.

"A success will net you this magic dagger. It's a fine item that wouldn't go less than 400,000 Eris." Chris says, patting the said dagger in the sheath on her hip. Kazuma seems impressed. And not gonna lie, so am I. With that much of a value, the dagger must be finely forged and high in quality.

"And the consolation prize would be... these rocks!" She opens her palm and shows some normal looking rocks. "That's dirty!" Kazuma exclaims. "Kazuma! You have high luck stat! You have a great chance of winning!" I shout from the sidelines.

Kazuma closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. He reaches out his hand and open his eyes.

"STEAL!"

A bright light flashes from his hand, almost blinding us. As the light vanishes, I can see his hand is clenching something. What is it?

He opens his hand to reveal...

"Oh! This is just as great a success! I hit a jackpot!"

A white panties.

"No! G-Give back my panties!" Chris begs, her face is red as heck.

Dammit Kazuma.

"W-What a savage act!" I look at Darkness, and damn, she look like all her blood have been drained from her face. Her face is filled with shock.

"D-Darkness? You okay?" I ask her, worrying she might snap at Kazuma for what he done to Chris. I mean, they're friends, right? She sure must feel some sort of anger watching her friend being treated like that.

"It appears my eyes didn't lead me astray!"

Forget what I just said. I should've seen that coming.

*KO*NO*SU*BA*

After a little convincing from me and some brokering between Kazuma and Chris, Chris got back her panties, Kazuma with his pouch, Darkness with her... whatever she's feeling right now and me with my headache, we finally return to the guild.

As we arrive at the guild, we're greeted by none other, Megumin and Aqua.

"Oh Kazuma, Fajar. Where have you guys been? You two missed my dazzling tricks."

If you're talking about those party tricks, I'm more delighted to not see them.

"Wait, what's with her?" Aqua asks, looking at Chris, who's crying beside Darkness who's... feeling excited.

"Ask Kazuma. I'm not, in any circumstances, involved in this." I say, already dodging a bullet.

"Actually..."

"Indeed."

Before Kazuma can even start explaining, Darkness cut him off.

"She just depressed because, when she taught Kazuma thief skills, her panties were stripped off, and all the money she had on her was taken."

I almost choke on air when she told them that. Did she really need to put it that way? She makes it sound like he's taking advantage of her. I mean, yeah, he did, but not in that way.

Kazuma is already panicking. "Hey, what are you blurting out?!"

"He said giving his coin pouch wouldn't be enough, (Sobs) so I said I'd pay any price." This time, it's Chris' turn to tell her story, trying to speak between sobs. "If he'd just return my panties... But then he told to to decide what they were worth on my own." She continues.

"Whoa, hold on! Hold on! You're not wrong, but seriously hold on!" Now, Kazuma is totally freaking out.

Is it just me, or other adventurers, especially the female adventurers, is sending menacing glares at us.

"He said if I didn't, they'd be revered

within his family as an heirloom from now on." Chris continues on sobbing, suspiciously saying those things out loud, eventually catching the attention of almost every adventurers in the guild.

"Hey! The eyes of every female adventurers around us are turning stone-cold! Seriously, wait a second! Fajar, help me out- Huh?" He turns to his side, surprisingly, I'm not there. He looks around and finally he spots me, behind Aqua and Megumin.

Unnoticed by them, I sneak around them, avoiding the glares the others giving at Kazuma. Hey, I said it already. I'm not involved in any matter, shape or form!

I mouthed a short good luck to him, giving him a thumbs up. Kazuma only clenches his fist, speechless by my betrayal. "Traitor!" He yells at me.

I just grin innocently. I avert my eyes to Chris and behind those sorrowful shams, I can see she starts to tee hee. That sly thief. I just chuckle at her mischievous.

"So, Kazuma, were you able to learn the thief skills without any problem?" Aqua asks, immediately dissolving the awkward atmosphere earlier.

"Well, see for yourself self." Kazuma says proudly. Like before, he ready his stance and reaches his hand out.

"Here I go! Steal!"

A bright light flashes again like the first time. He clenches his hand, something unknown in his fist.

And then, I notice Megumin face become red. Uh-oh...

"Huh? What's this?" Kazuma opens his hand to reveal a black panties.

"What happened?" I look at Megumin, and she's definitely not impressed. "Did you stats go up with your level... Allowing you to change your job from adventurer to perverts?"

Ouh, so you can change your class when you level up huh? Wait, that's not the point right now! Oh God, have mercy to us and not let this girl blow up this whole guild!

"Um, it's a little bit drafty, so please give back my panties." Megumin says, embarrassedly, luckily not explosion chanting included.

Aqua, in contrast, looking at Kazuma with a hint of disgust. "Kazuma, you..."

"H-Huh? That's strange. What you steal should be random..." Kazuma try to defend himself. "Hmmm... Maybe because of your high luck stat perhaps?" I say. Two panties in a row, I would definitely consider those lucky.

"To strip such a young girl of her panties in a public place is truly savage! I can't let this pass!" Darkness stand between us and Kazuma. Well, I would say her actions were very knight-like if not of the fact she's looking weirdly excited.

"You must let me join your party."

"No please"/"Not gonna happen." Kazuma and I say at the same time, both with deadpanned face.

And once again, she's moaning at our rejection. At this point, I really think that the only "normal" ones in this party is Kazuma. I would consider myself normal if not because of the fact that I'm literally cannot die.

"Hey Kazuma, is this the person you mentioned who came for an interview while Megumin and I were at the bath yesterday?" Aqua asks, kinda surprised by Darkness sudden move. "Yes, she is." I answer on behalf of Kazuma while he deals with Megumin.

"This is Darkness. She's a Crusader job adventurer." I introduce Darkness to them.

"And Darkness, this blue haired, airheaded girl-" "Hey!" "-is Aqua, our arch priestess and that little chuunibyou girl-" "What did you call me?!" "-is Megumin, our arch wizard."

And I introduce them back, with my own style, to Darkness.

After properly introduced Darkness to the others, we decide to sit down first for further discussions.

"Hey, you're right! This lady is indeed a crusader! We shouldn't have any reason to turn her down." Megumin exclaims when she looks at Darkness's adventurer card.

"Actually, I can name a few reasons." I say, gaining a weird look from Megumin and Aqua. "What do you mean?" Aqua asks me.

Before I can even say anything, Kazuma speaks up. "Darkness, there's something I need to tell you."

I wonder what it is.

"The thing is... Aqua and I may not look like much, but we're seriously intend to defeat the Demon King."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" I say, feeling left outed.

"Oh right. Fajar too." he adds. Aqua nods in agreement.

"Oh?" "You do?" Both Chris and Megumin looked surprised. Well, to others, we may look like chasing an impossible dream, but we didn't have other choice but that. That's why we're brought here in the first place after all. And for me personally, to return back to my old life since I'm not really dead yet.

"Yeah. Awesome isn't?" Aqua boasts. Kazuma continues his explanation. "Our adventure is bound to become more and more rigorous. For you in particular, Darkness. If a female knight like you were to be captured by the Demon King, it'd be bad news."

Ahh... I see what's going on here. Kazuma tried to frighten Darkness so she wouldn't join our party. Smart move.

"You'd be sure to suffer a horrendous fate!"

"Yes, that's exactly right."

Huh? There's not a single hint of fear on her face. Quite the opposite actually. She looks more passionate about it.

"Since old time, suffering an erotic fate in the hands of the Demon King, has always been the duty and expectations of a female knight. That alone makes it worthwhile to go!"

"Wait, what?" Kazuma was taken aback by Darkness response.

"Huh? What is it? Did I say something weird?"

This lady...

"Yes you absolutely do." I say under my breath, the others seem not to hear it though.

Kazuma changes his focus to Megumin. "You listen up too, Megumin." Now he's doing the same thing to Megumin. I've a feeling that it wouldn't work either.

"Our opponent is the Demon King. We're picking a fight with the strongest being in this world. There's no need to force yourself to stay in a party like-"

"My name is Megumin!"

Shit... Here we go again.

"I am a user of the finest magic Crimson Demon possess, and I command explosion magic! The Demon King fancies himself superior to us and dare call himself "the strongest" ! I shall obliterate his vile presence with our strongest of magic!" Megumin proudly proclaims.

And Kazuma looked soooo done with all these bullshit. "Kazuma, Kazuma..." He looks at his right, Aqua whispers to him.

"I've kind of gotten a cold feet after hearing all of these." She says. "Are freaking serious?!" I hiss at her. Kazuma just looks at her with an "are you kidding me?" expression.

I start to feel sorry for Kazuma as the party leader. To be honest, the others are starting to get into my nerves.

I rub my temple as I didn't really know how we're supposed to achieve our goal in our situation right now.

"Emergency quest! Emergency quest!"

"UGGHHHH!!!! WHAT NOW?!"

Author's note

So that it is folks! Chapter six. A bit longer than my expectation, and the longest chapter so far. I hope you guys enjoy it!