The First Quest Part Two and a New Party Member:
The next morning Kazuma awoke to the sound of Maximus shouting outside the stables.
"God Blow!" He shouted summoning all his aura into his hand.
The next moment Maximus struck another toad across its jaw that happened to wander close to the farm. The strike was immediately followed by a loud soundwave that echoed across the whole valley. The sound of it gave off the same as an explosion, cracking the air around him. The force of the blow sent the amphibian rolling back across the field. Once it stopped the creature laid there lifeless with no sign of movement. Kazuma rushed outside to see Aqua cheering Maximus and gleefully ran up to his side.
"That was wonderful, you seem to have a knack at this." She said feeling excited.
"How did he get that tub of lard to fly away like that when she wasn't able to yesterday?" Kazuma asked himself, feeling stunned by the results.
Maximus was rubbing his right wrist when he noticed Kazuma peaking around the stables with a stunned face. He had the look of disbelief with his jaw opened and a sense of fear was within his eyes.
"Hey, Kazuma, want to get an early start for today?" Maximus waved to him with a smile.
"By the way, how were you able to make that toad fly backwards like that?" Aqua inquired feeling a little jealous and mostly amazed.
"It's simple, for a big creature such as that one, you have to hit them where there is the least amount of resistance." Maximus answered.
Aqua stood there with a dumbfounded look on her face and wondered what he meant. Maximus quickly took notice of her confusion and began to explain further.
"Yesterday when you used that ability, you struck the area where there was too much of its body to absorb the blow. However, its head has less fat and is likely to offer up little to no resistance. Although the blow didn't work effectively as I had hoped, but still, not bad for my first try." He said.
"Yes, as your first skill you learned from me, I am proud you were able to use it with such ease." Aqua said and began to giggle a little while looking at him with a big smile. He chuckled a little and the two gave each other a thumbs up.
"If you were teaching him his first skill then why not have me get taught that as well?" Kazuma asked approaching the two and felt annoyed she didn't teach him.
"That is because you are not worthy of that skill as you are just a lowly human boy who spent his time shutting himself off from the world." Aqua shot back at him.
"Useless dork of a Goddess." Kazuma said under his breath.
"Anyway, let's take that big guy in, get a reward, sell it to whoever will buy it, and see about getting another party member." Maximus said.
"So, how are we going to choose our new member, do you honestly think anyone is just going to sign up with newbie adventurers like us?" Kazuma inquired.
"I think once they find out I am in the party; they will be begging to join us no problem." Aqua said with a cheerful tone.
"Yeah right, like anybody would be willing enough to join solely because of you." Kazuma said to himself.
"Besides, I have already taken care of getting the flyer ready to be hung up on the wall in the Guild Hall." She said pulling out a large parchment she had made.
"When did she have time to write that up, I don't remember her doing anything when I woke up. Then again she may have gotten up before me." Maximus wondered to himself.
The three of them lifted the large toad onto the handcart and walked into town. Maximus was able to sell the meat for a decent price once more and split it between them. On the way to the Guild Aqua noticed a staff at the weapon shop that was pleasing to her. The body of it was plain metal and on the top was a flower that was closed up. They continued on from there until they got to the Guild.
Once inside they sat on the bench which was positioned across the quest board. Maximus noticed not a single person had paid it any mind, in fact no one even bothered to look at the board in general. He soon excused himself and walked up to the bar for a drink. Before he began to take a drink, Luna had approached him from behind after noticing him.
"Maximus, it's good to see you again." She said feeling shy and a little nervous.
He turned around and saw her walking up to him. "Huh, oh, Luna. Hello and good day to you. How are you this lovely morning so far?" He inquired.
"I-I-I'm doing very well today, thank you." She responded with a little stutter. "Ok, get it together Luna, it's just a simple question, I'm sure there is nothing to be afraid of." She said to herself working up the courage to ask him a question.
Maximus took a sip from his drink and sat there feeling the day going to waste. "Oh man, what a lousy start this is so far. Not a single soul even once glanced at the flyer. Then again after seeing what it said earlier there's no wonder no one will even bother with it." Both Kazuma and Maximus had thought of the same thing.
"Uh, Maximus, I was wondering if you would like to go on an outing with me sometime." Luna inquired of him with a little struggle to get it all out.
Maximus turned to face her once more and noticed she was looking down and twiddling her thumbs.
She continued to talk. "If you don't, that's fine since you and Aqua seem to be close,"
The next moment he placed his right hand under her chin and gently lifted her head up to look him in the eye. She was unsure of what to do and found herself mesmerized by his warm and welcoming gaze. His face had a little smile forming and he leaned closer to her. She thought at first, he was moving in for a kiss but quickly noticed he hadn't leaned too close to her. It was only a little, yet enough to get her attention.
"Looks like you beat me to the punch," He said and paused for a moment to remove his hand from her chin to her shoulder. "Besides, I was going to inquire about such an outing after the Kill Quest was over." He finished.
Luna's face began to form a large smile and the light in her eyes lit up even more than before. She raised her hands and press them together out in front.
"I'll look forward to that, when your Kill Quest is over stop by the desk and we can discuss it further." She said feeling excited.
"Well, until that time I will bid you adieu." He said releasing her shoulder gently and turned to his party members. "I better get back with those two and see about finishing this quest."
After he finished, he gave her a wink and a thumbs up. She responded with a wave and a smile and proceeded back to her duties with a new sense of confidence. Both Aqua and Kazuma approached him before he could make his way to them. Maximus quickly noticed they were standing before him with defeated looks wearing on their faces. Neither of them could look up at him after such a bad turn out.
"I take it by the looks on your faces we didn't even recruit anyone just now." Maximus said after seeing the obvious. He sighed and proceeded to take another sip of his drink. "Well that's rather annoying, I was hoping that going away from the board would have resulted in someone approaching me to inquire about the opening in our party. Rather than sitting in front of it like some desperate fool."
Meanwhile a young girl was standing before the board reading an announcement that was catching her eye. She turned to her left and noticed all three of them before the bar.
"Maybe you shouldn't have put it in the way that you did, saying that only high-class adventurers need apply is a little too much. You should really think about lowering your standards a lot." Kazuma said to Aqua.
"I know. But I thought it would've been a good idea." She said feeling depressed for a moment and quickly latched at Kazuma. Her hands grabbing fistful of his track suit. "Well, if you weren't so weak, we wouldn't have to ask for someone else to join our party. You're really holding us back you shut-in-neet." She shouted in anger rocking him back and forth.
Kazuma placed his hand against her face in order to push her off of him.
"Oh, I'm the one holding our party back, well what about you? Yesterday you were completely useless as you did nothing to aid us." Kazuma fired back.
"That's completely not true, I did do something even if it was a poor attempt." She quickly countered.
The two of them began to bicker among themselves making too much of a scene.
Maximus was confused about her, not sure what to make of her personality. "One second she has an annoying Damsel-in-Distress attitude and the next a raging mad woman. All the while claiming to be a Goddess." He said to himself and sighed. "And now they are putting on a display that is sure to showcase why anyone with a logical brain would steer clear from this party. It was a mistake to waste our time with this venture and just finish up the quest today." He finished his thought.
The next moment Maximus quickly downed his beverage and placed the mug on the bar loudly to get their attention. The two of them stopped sensing his annoyance and wondered what he was going to do. "Oh well, it looks as though no one is going to join, so why don't we finish,"
"Excuse me." The young girl said standing before them.
Both Kazuma and Aqua turned around and all three waited for her to continue.
"I was wondering, are you three still looking for new party members?" She inquired.
Kazuma quickly replied to her. "Uh, yeah, we are, although I don't really recommend it,"
"What's your name young girl?" Maximus inquired of her interrupting Kazuma.
"My name is Megumin." She responded.
Silence quickly followed and everyone stood there as the others waited for her to continue. Maximus was wondering if she was shy and approached her.
"Is that all?" He inquired.
"Yeah, I thought you were going to continue with everything else about you." Kazuma said.
"He only asked for my name." She quickly replied and turned back at Maximus.
"Ok, so, what else do you want to inform us about yourself before we ultimately decide if we want to take you in." Maximus said feeling annoyed. "You know, if you were inquiring about the party slot, you should include everything about yourself right off the bat instead of wasting our time." He said to himself.
"Hang on, your eye is red, are you a Crimson Demon?" Aqua inquired.
"Demon, I wonder if this world's demons are similar to my ancestors? Though it's hard to say right off the bat." Maximus said to himself after hearing she was a demon.
"Yes, I am of the Crimson Demon Clan, Wielder of the most powerful spell; Explosion." She proclaimed to them.
"By the way what's with that patch on your eye? If you need my friend can heal you." Kazuma said feeling a little concerned about her well-being.
"There is nothing wrong with my eye, I wear this as a way to contain my power. If I were to remove it, the entire area will quake and crumble to the ground. I am that powerful." She proclaimed.
"Whoa!" Kazuma said with excitement.
"I don't sense anything special or overwhelming emanating from her, nor do I sense any powerful magic from that patch to seal her so called powers away. She's just bluffing, but I will let her have this sense of false pride." Maximus said to himself.
Maximus stood up from the bar stool and walked up to her. "Well, what say you to slaying a bunch of toads before the day is done." He inquired of her.
Megumin took in his tall frame and she began to quake a little and at the same time trying not to show it.
"Sure, I'd be…up to…the task." She started to feel dizzy and fell to the floor.
Uh, are you alright?" Both Kazuma and Aqua inquired.
The next moment the three of them heard her stomach growl loudly. The noise echoed throughout the entire Guild and she could barely lift her head.
"No, I haven't eaten in three whole days." Megumin struggled to say and her stomach growled once more.
Kazuma helped pick her up and set her down in front of the nearby table. "Here, let me help you."
"Hey, waitress, I need a round of the special and make it quick!" Maximus shouted with his hand raised to get her attention and she quickly acknowledged.
Minutes later Megumin was digging into the food that was brought to her without hesitation. Maximus and the others began to inspect the adventurers card she had shown them.
"I have to say, despite her age and level, this card is the real deal." Aqua said.
"How so?" Both Maximus and Kazuma inquired at the same time.
"Well for starters, an adventurers card cannot be forged in any way to deceive people." She informed them.
"I see," Maximus said taking the card in hand to look at it closer. "It's impressive you are at such an advanced class when you are such a low level. Are all crimson demons capable of such feats?" He inquired of her.
"Yes, since we are demons, we have a high potential to start off in advanced classes." She stopped to briefly inform him and began eating again.
Maximus placed his right hand on his chin. "Strange, she claims to be a demon, yet I do not see anything demonic about her. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that she is in her human form. However, I don't sense anything that would give off any indication that she is a demon." He paused his thinking for a moment.
"Well, I must say we would be foolish to not accept her into our party. I vote we take her in. What say you two on the matter?" Aqua asked both Kazuma and Maximus.
"I know on my world my ancestors are descendants of the Dragon of Destruction: Malfeld who was regarded as the first demon. Maybe each world has a different bases to be called a demon." His finished his thought.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt us to have someone like you on our team, why not." Kazuma said and they all turned to Maximus.
"Sure, I'm okay with that." He added. "Plus, I might ask more about the demons of this world to see how different between my world's and theirs." He thought to himself.
The four of them headed out to the same valley as before and once there Megumin agreed not to fire her attack until they could bundle a large group in order to finish the quest quickly. Maximus quickly traveled to the other side once more and began to do the same thing as before only allowing a larger amount of his demonic aura to radiate throughout the forest. The result was far more than he had anticipated.
The others saw a mass exodus from many creatures of the forest fleeing in terror. Both Megumin and Aqua could sense something terrible heading their way. Shortly after nine more Giant Toads jumped out of the forest with the same desperate look of fear in their eyes as the last ones the day before. All of the toads were gathered together and Megumin quickly began to shout her incantation to launch her attack.
Both Kazuma and Aqua were amazed at the power that was produced and all the toads before them seemed to stand still, petrified in some way.
"Explosion!" She shouted with her staff pointed at the group of toads.
Maximus had just exited the forest when he saw the streams of magical aura flowing around the toads. The moment after a ray of orange-red light shot down from a ball of fire floating from on high. Once it struck the targets a massive explosion in sued and engulfed them entirely. The shock wave rippled the entire area, quaking the ground violently.
"Whoa, that was impressive, far more than I first had thought." Maximus said to himself with amazement wearing upon his face.
"Alright, you got them all, now that's what I call serious magic!" Kazuma said feeling surprised.
The next moment another toad had jumped toward them.
"Oh crap, looks like we may have attracted another one, Megumin you might want to," Kazuma stopped after he saw her laying face flat on the ground, as if passed out. "What are you doing, we got another one heading this way."
"What is she doing, why isn't she getting up?" Aqua said with a little concern and Maximus had thought the same.
"I forgot to mention, I can only use Explosion Magic once a day. When I do, my body goes numb or I pass out falling flat on my face." She informed them.
"Huh." Kazuma said not sure of what to make of this situation. "Ugh, never mind." He quickly said and turned to Aqua. "Alright Aqua, it looks like we could use your 'You Know What Powers' right about now. Come on, show us all how incredible you used to be."
"Oh, shut up, I'm still Goddess, there is no 'used to be' about it." She snapped at him with anger in her voice.
"Huh, what was that you said Aqua?" Megumin inquired after only hearing some parts of what Kazuma said.
Kazuma was disappointed in himself for telling the truth about Aqua. "Duh, never mind that, just,"
The next moment another Giant Toad surfaced from the ground near Megumin.
"Holy crap, where did that one come from, man they are sneaky." Kazuma said with a little fear.
Before he could say anything Aqua shouted as she charged after the furthest one.
"I will show you the power of the Gods Kazuma, God Requiem!" She shouted and her staff's flower opened up overflowing with her aura. "A most devastating attack that carries a Goddess' love and sorrow, whosoever it strikes shall,"
Before she could strike the creature, Aqua was swallowed whole once more. The toad lifted its head to sink her down into its stomach.
"Oh, come on!" Kazuma shouted with annoyance and anger.
Megumin could hear the quaking sound of the approaching toad. "Uh oh, it looks as though we are in quite the predicament. It's a shame Maximus isn't here to help us since he is probably still in the forest. I'm sorry could you,"
Before he could take a step to aid and before she could finish, Megumin was swallowed whole as well.
Maximus quickly summoned his demonic aura into his hand and touched the toad in passing. "Kazuma, quickly aid Megumin while I save Aqua!" He instructed.
"How am I supposed to do that." He inquired.
The next instant Maximus sprinted past him at lightning speeds and when they were side by side, he informed him of a crucial detail. "I used my powers to petrify the toad temporarily, now go." His said in that moment.
Kazuma looked behind him and saw Maximus was already before the other toad.
"I do hope he is right about this." Kazuma turned around. "Hang on Megumin." He shouted and ran to her rescue.
Both Maximus and Kazuma struck the creatures down the length of their belly's to free the girls from their captors. The two of them graciously thanked them for coming to their rescue. Maximus and Aqua prepared the handcart with the haul and the whole party began to head back into town.
Kazuma had Megumin piggyback on him and Aqua still was depressed about getting swallowed twice in two days. She, in her mind, could see that Maximus was extremely disappointed in her. He looked down at her with disgust as a horrible thought brewed ever more. The thought of him leaving her behind because of how pathetic her performance had been.
Maximus was at the end of them with the cart rolling behind him, wondering to himself. "I can't believe such a spell would be so potent it would cause the caster to collapse. After seeing it being used, I was going to inquire her about it however, seeing the results I'm not so sure about that now."
The next moment he turned up after hearing both Kazuma and Megumin talking to each other.
"Alright, from now on you're banned from using that spell ever again. Unless it's for emergencies only, other than that stick to less apocalyptic spells." Kazuma told her.
"No, I can't, I mustn't, Explosion is the only spell for me. All of the other spells in the same family pales in comparison!" She proclaimed feeling disgusted at the mere thought of casting any other spell but that one.
"Wait," Maximus said and the others stopped to turn his direction. "Shouldn't you have been able to,"
"You are able to use other spells can't you, I mean I had to learn all of the party tricks before advancing to the higher-level ones. That is what you were going to say right Maximus." Aqua interrupted with her gaze looking up at him.
"Well yeah, but I only want to cast that spell." Megumin informed them.
"So, basically she is going to be useless from here on out. Great it looks as though we're going to have another Aqua in this group." Kazuma said to himself and they all began to walk on. The next moment he had a thought to let her go. "Well, it was fun and all but I think we can part ways from here. We'll split the reward and you can be on your way to casting Explosion magic all you want in some other party."
"Hold it Kazuma," Maximus quickly spoke out. "I hate to break it to you, but we did allow her to join the party. I would dare say it will reflect poorly on us if we were to let her go the same day she joined up." Maximus said feeling annoyed at the situation.
"Huh?" Kazuma said feeling betrayed with a confused look on his face. "How could he of all people want her to stay in this group?" He said to himself.
Maximus had an unsettling feeling come over him when he saw three young women walked by them. They had noticed both Aqua and Megumin had thick slime all over them and began to discuss among themselves about what they had done to the two.
"I would dare say, and I cannot believe the words are escaping my mouth, we better keep her in our party. The last thing we need is to have rumors spread that could ruin our reputation. Besides, her magic does sound like it's well worth to learn." Maximus said feeling annoyed.
"What?! No, we can't no matter the cost! How are we going to be an effective party if two of our members are completely useless! One useless person is enough and now you want to add another one! We're leaving her at the Guild and that's final!" Kazuma protested.
"Look there, that young man is going to leave that poor girl all alone." One of the three young ladies said out loud.
"Also, is that Maximus, the man who defeated the Manticore?" Another asked.
"Is he really going to allow that poor girl to be dumped by the young man after being defiled with that slime?" The third one asked.
"Isn't that their Arch-Priest, what horrible acts did those two made those young girls endure?" The previous one asked.
"What shamefulness will they go through next?" The first one wondered.
"Oh no they didn't just blurt that out of their mouths. No way am I going to suffer a loss to my reputation." Maximus said to himself with anger mounting. "Kazuma, you completely disappoint me, I gave you a simple task and you decide to blow it!" Maximus quickly shouted.
The three young women began to listen more intently.
"To think you would allow these two to be defile in such a manner as to please your own perverted ways before helping them out is despicable to the highest degree! Were I not such a gentleman, I would throw you out of my party the double quick." He said with his arms folded with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Oh, Maximus, I'm so glad you arrived in time to save me from his perversions!" Aqua quickly chimed in out of nowhere that surprised Maximus. "If you hadn't shown up when you did who knows what horrible acts he would have done upon us." Aqua said grabbing onto Maximus' coat crying.
The three young ladies began to have a different opinion of Maximus after hearing Aqua. Megumin had saw and heard them and decided to embarrass Kazuma in order for him to allow her to stay with the party in a unanimous decision. "Oh yes it was so horrible,"
"You too?!" Kazuma said.
"If only you had arrived just a little later, I would have enjoyed whatever perverted games you wanted me to play." Megumin said with a devilish smile.
"O-o-ok fine, just shut up!" Kazuma shouted in panic.
After the excitement died down both Aqua and Megumin went to wash up as Maximus and Kazuma went to the Guild to pick up their reward. The two of them stopped after crossing the threshold and sighed in unison.
"I'm not going to forgive you for what you did earlier." Kazuma said to Maximus with a despising tone.
"Well, you should have helped me convince them to wash up before arriving back into town. Maybe then we wouldn't have to go through such a thing." Maximus snapped back.
"Yeah, but now my reputation is going to be shattered if not already." He complained.
"Forget about it for now, we can discuss it another time." Maximus began to make his way to the desk. "I'll pick up the reward, you go and have a seat over there and wait for me." He pointed at the nearest table.
After informing and waiting a bit Luna arrived at the desk with a tray of money for him.
"Alright, I've confirmed your completion of your party's quest. I will say we are very surprised you were able to slay fifteen of those toads in all. Now with five thousand per creature plus the bounty for selling use the meat and a special bonus, your total amounts to two hundred-thousand Eris. Does that amount seem fair to you?" Luna informed him with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, that sounds perfect." He responded placing the money into a pouch and then in his inner coat pocket.
"Now, about that outing you agreed to go on with me?" Luna said with a sudden seductive tone.
Maximus looked up to catch her hand gliding across her clavicle and her head slightly turned to the side. Her smile was inviting as if to tease him. He leaned forward a little and rested his arm on the desk with his gaze fixed on her face.
"I believe he has taken the bait just like the other girls had instructed." Luna said to herself, remembering her discussion with some of the other waitress' who work at the Guild.
"So, how should we plan this little outing between the two of us? Since I'm new to town I am not sure what all is there to do outside of adventuring, then again there is always the market to try out the food there. What say you on the matter?" He inquired of her.
Meanwhile a young woman was looking at the flyer posted on the board and turned to her right noticing Maximus was at the desk. She took a deep breath and began to head over to him.
As she approached Luna was beginning to discuss the details of the outing the two were planning. "Well, we could go to the Marketplace to try out some of their foods and see about sitting under a tree somewhere to get to know one another."
"Excuse me," The young woman said to get Maximus' attention.
He turned around and noticed her standing there.
"Oh, were you standing there long, I'm sorry was there something I could help with?" Luna inquired. "That's odd, I don't remember her taking any quest today. Could she be attempting to reel him away?" Luna thought to herself.
"I was wanting to inquire about the position that you have open. My name is Darkness and my class is Crusader." She paused for a moment feeling overwhelmed with excitement caused by the potential rejection and acceptance.
"Oh wow, to have a Crusader in your party would be very beneficial for you." Luna informed Maximus.
"So, I wish to ask you, will you allow me to join your p-p-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-party please!" She blurted out nervously.
"She seems to be shy about asking to join or am I reading this wrong?" Maximus wondered to himself. "Well, we haven't really discussed how many members we were going to have. That being said, I see no reason why I shouldn't,"
"So, you're rejecting me?!" Darkness quickly shouted with an uncomfortable joy in her voice.
Maximus was confused as to what was going on. "Wait, what? That's not what I was going to say,"
"That was so fast for you to come to such a decision and so cruel. And at the same time, I can't help but feel overwhelming joy over this!" Darkness continued to shout.
Maximus was becoming more uncomfortable with her behavior and turned to Luna.
"Say, why don't you and I pick this conversation up another time if you don't mind because I just remembered I have to watch the farmers livestock tonight." He said to Luna with a sense of urgency. "And Darkness was it, how's about you and me take a rain check on the position tomorrow when you meet the rest of the party and we can discuss this further. Okay, bye." He said with a false smile and patted her shoulder.
"Oh, okay." Both Luna and Darkness said at the same time feeling a little confused.
"That was really weird for some reason that I can't put my finger on it yet, but I should just get away fast." Maximus said heading towards Kazuma.
Maximus quickly grabbed Kazuma and began to head back to the stables for the night.
