Akira stretches as he wakes from his dreamless sleep. "Ahh, another day, another adventure." He said, trying to be enthusiastic. He picked himself up from his small bed and looked around the room in the Inn he was renting: good for his needs. He did his morning routine of bathroom, brushing teeth, and dressed before looking in the mirror. "Yeah, you really need friends." He told himself as he exited the room and went toward the guild.
Akira found himself in a state of repeat for a bit: he did quests to level and get money, finished it, then wondered what to do for a bit while looking for someone to talk to or party with. Recently however he had a bit of a problem on a job and was out of commission for a day, so he hadn't visited the guild till now. Walking in he heard the normal commotion as well as the strange talks of someone using Steal for panties. He wandered up to the job poster and scanned it seeing a specific poster that caught his eye: a recruiting poster. The only issues he saw was that they wanted Advanced Classes only, but he figured they might make an exception if they saw how good he was. He just needed something they could see...
"Here! Let me show you what I've learned: Steal!" A voice cried out, catching Akira's attention. He turned to see someone in a green tracksuit with his hand out. Slowly opening his hand it revealed...black panties.
"What the fuck?" Akira asked quietly to himself looking on. His surprise was greater however when he saw the man he hit by a very familiar sword still in its scabbard. "No way." Akira said to himself moving a bit to see indeed that his eyes weren't tricking him. There before him was someone wielding a weapon from the same game series where he got Gilgamesh: the Yamato. "But that can't be...I'm lucky that Gilgamesh hasn't killed me since I shouldn't be able to use it like I do, I just have the stats for it to not die. No way someone who's a normal human can use Yamato. Unless...he's like me and changed species." Akira wondered to himself before deciding he'd test this out. With a breath in he prepared himself for either the craziest or dumbest decision he's made since arriving in this fantasy world.
He crouched down and summoned Gilgamesh to him, looked up and with a mighty push launched himself at the young man.
/With Ash\\
"So after you increased your level and stats, you job changed to pervert? Can I have my panties back...it's a bit drafty." Megumin said shyly while holding the edges of her skit and looking down with a blush.
Ash just witnessed something...indecent. He always hated perverts, and while it's true that Kazuma has wiggled his way into his list of friends, he still wouldn't let him do what he just did. "Now give Megumin back her stuff." Ash said after bonking Kazuma with the scabbard of Yamato. The young man did as instructed while Ash stood there near the Crimson Demon.
"Thank you Ash." She said after she re-aquired her unmentionable item and put it back on using him as a shield so no one saw.
Ash was about to walk away but suddenly he had a bad feeling. Turning quickly he brought the sheathed Yamato up and blocked an armored kick. The attacker was slightly taller then he was, had black shoulder-length hair, and brown eyes. The outfit he wore was reminiscent of a Persona 5 outfit just altered like he had an altered Vergil outfit. What caught his eye next was the very armor he was wearing; he knew it instantly after hours of playing the game: Gilgamesh. Time seems to slow as the two locked eyes and sparks flew from the two weapons colliding and straining against each other. Ash could feel that Yamato even recognized the weapon it was holding off; moving the sword to the side he shoved back a bit as Yamato kicked it up a notch.
The force of the attack ripples back to Akira and he is pushed away, and thanks to the weapon's demonic energy a shockwave goes outward sending him back even more. Akira looked down and felt his foot: it'd been like kicking a solidly built wall. He looked back up to Akira and saw that the tracksuit guy, mage, and priest tried to move forward but Ash stopped them. "Well shit." Akira said suddenly as he saw the way this went downhill fast. "Didn't think this through that well. It's real and I don't exactly feel like dying right now." He said standing up straight and unsummining Gilgamesh.
Ash kept a wary eye on him. The fact he had that Devil Arm meant he was not originally from Thai world. "What is real?" Ash asked, keeping his guard up.
"Yamato there. I needed to know if it was a fake, or a coincidence, but no...that's the real deal. And I bet you know what I was using too." Akira said to Ash who carefully nodded. Akira went into a more relaxed posture as he smirked. "Names Akira, what's yours?"
"Ash. If you have the information you wanted what else do you need?" Ash asked, simply getting a chuckle.
"Look, sorry about attacking. That's all I wanted to know honestly." Akira said, holding up his hand. "But what I want now is to know if you're the party that put up that recruiting poster." He asked gesturing to behind him where indeed the poster was still up. Kazuma looked to it before quickly taking it off the wall and pocketing it.
"That was us but..." he starts before grabbing Akira and turning him away from the group. "Imma be honest since you're obviously reincarnated like Ash and I, the people we have? They are useless. Another one is trying to sign up, that blonde one, and she's a crazy lady. If you have any skill say so now and I'll let you in because as it is only I and Ash are good in a fight." He said quickly and quietly, surprising Akira.
Akira leaned in as well. "Lucky for you I am good. I've been an adventurer for a bit now and have perfect success rates on all my jobs." He said with a thumbs up.
Kazuma nodded and just before he could get Ash in on the conversation, an alarm that shouldn't work went off through the town.
"Emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers please report to the town gates! I repeat, this is an emergency quest, all adventurers report to the front gate!" The speakers said. With that the gathered adventurers began to run toward the gate with Kazuma confused as Ash was on his right and Akira on his left.
"What's happening?" He asked his fellow reincarnated adventurers as they ran for the gate.
"I don't know, I've only been here for a week." Akria says with a shrug.
"It's the same for me. I'll go ahead, see what's at the gate that it causes such a ruckus." Ash says preparing to leave.
"Race ya!" Akria said with a smirk. Ash looked back to him with his neutral expression.
"It won't be much of a race." The half demon said as he channeled the Dark Slayer style to accomplish what he planned. In an instant he was suddenly gone, ahead of the party and continually disappearing and reappearing in front of other people.
"That smart bastard, he's using Dark Slayer's teleportation." Akria said, smirking.
Kazuma watched as Ash continued to do so without any more people in front of him. "But wasn't Dark Slayer not able to go forward unless an enemy was locked on to?" He asked.
"Yeah I noticed it too. Seems he was able to fix that little problem for himself and can teleport freely. Must not take much mana for him to use with Hume being half-" suddenly Akira's mouth was covered by Kazuma making them almost fall after stumbling.
"We don't talk about that. With the state this world is in and the person responsible for all of it, think of what the people would do and say." Kazuma said carefully making sure no one heard them.
"Does the other in your party know?" Akira asked as he removed the man's hand and they started running again.
"Aqua obviously knows, she's the one who brought all three of us here. But from the way he talks Megumin doesn't, probably doesn't want to ruin their friendship." Kazuma said. Akira, however, gained a smirk.
"Maybe...or maybe he doesn't want to lose a chance at a ship~." He said chuckling to himself.
Ash reached the gate predictably first. Looking around he only saw guild staff finishing up with cages. "What is going on here?" Ash asked himself as the other adventures finally caught up.
"Hey...you..." one said trying to catch his breath. "How are you not tired after using teleport so much?" He asked Ash who was merely standing there.
"When it comes to magic and swordsmanship you'll find my class is unparalleled." Ash simply said to the poor guy. His party plus the blond and Akira finally caught up with him as he saw a distant cloud of green flying through the air. "What is that?" He asked more to himself then someone else, but it seemed Kazuma had the same question and Aqua had answers.
"Bring out the mayonnaise because those..are cabbages!" She yells out, making Ash look to her in confusion. The cloud got closer and indeed to Ash's shock they were cabbages. It looked as if some lettuce was mixed in, but Ash was still trying to figure out why cabbage was flying in the first place.
"What the hell is this!?" Kazuma yelled out in his own shock.
Aqua, being the goddess she is, provided an answer for them all. "The cabbages of this world had learned to fly, as such whenever they are ripe and ready for eating they migrate to escape their fate. If we do not catch them now they will fly off to a faraway place where no one can survive. They'll die and shrivel up, uneaten and rotten." She said simply.
Akira smirked as he and Darkness stepped forward. "I'm other words, to prove ourselves to your party this is our opportunity." Darkness said to Kazuma.
"Uh no, Akira doesn't need to prove anything." Kazuma said, making Darkness breathe in and make strange noises.
"Such double standards for people." She says as the cabbages grow closer.
The first wave of adventurers run forward to start attacking and collecting the cabbages. Ash stayed still as they past him, Megumin walking up to be next to him. "Aren't you gonna participate? You have a sword so shouldn't you be up there with them?" She asks her friend who stood there with his eyes closed.
"No, running in for the first wave is never a good choice. Conserve your energy for the harder waves as they come and output as little needed for the first five rounds at least." Ash said mentally thanking COD Zombies for the lessons.
"That sounds smart, where'd you learn that?" Megumin asks him with her head tilted to look up to him.
"An old friend, he knew how to make it simple to understand most of the time. Others he'd hide things behind riddles and mysteries." Ash said. Just then the guild staff members walked out and one spoke to the crowd.
"Sorry for the last minute gathering! But it's time to harvest cabbages everyone! Because this year the quality is so great we are offering 10,000 Eris for every head of cabbage collected! We'll be sure to mark it on your cards so we know who got how many and no one can miss out or lie. But due to the large amount of people and cabbage it'll be handed out at a later date! Go get them adventurers!" A lady said to everyone making them even more fired up.
The first wave was beginning to look thinner as another began to descend. Suddenly an adventurer was toppled by another person landing on him, making both of them easy targets for the...cabbages. Ash still had to get used to that, sentient killing cabbage. Boy would a certain cart salesman love this after screaming about his cabbages so much.
Darkness ran forward to protect the two men, taking hits as she stood her ground not flinching an inch. "What are you doing!? Get out of here!" The awake man yelled at her as she spread her arms out taking more hits.
"No! As a Knight I cannot leave someone defenseless to die! I'll protect you so hurry and stand!" She says as her armor begins to break slightly. Akira in the distance was finishing up his 35th cabbage, squashing it beneath his foot.
"What the hell?" He asked as he saw the armor fall from her body and the fabric of her clothes began to tear. "What is wrong with you woman!" He yelled out to her as the other onlookers had gotten the wrong idea.
"Incredible!" Darkness suddenly yells out, making Kazuma, Akira, and even Ash (although only slightly physically) look shocked by her actions as she tried to spread herself out more to be hit by the cabbages. That's when Ash heard chanting next to him.
"Oh darkness shrouded in light...frenzied blaze clad in night...in the name of the Crimson Demons let the collapse of thine origin manifest. Summon before me the roots of thy power hidden within the lands of the kingdom of demise." She said as the magic circle grew outward and a target seemed to immediately go to Darkness. Megumin pointed her staff at the cabbages and shouted "EXPLOSION!" Causing the spell to go off. The explosion went outward from Darkness and the girl immediately fell over.
"Well on the bright side, you got a lot of them. On the down side, they're worthless now." Ash said to her getting a groan from the face down mage. He carefully sat her up to watch as another giant wave of them began to fly in. "Now then, I think it's time I got involved." He said walking forward. The adventurers started to part and back up as they felt his mana begin to build and the Yamato let off an intense aura. Akira, even though he himself uses a Devil Arm as well, was sweating at the pressure the Katana gave off on its own. After walking ahead of everyone he looked back holding the hilt of Yamato in his hand. "If you wish to live, back up a bit more." He said. Everyone did as instructed out of not just fear but curiosity. This was the first time seeing the class 'Dark Slayer' in action, and Ash opened to not disappoint.
He looked back to the large group of cabbages, and they looked at him back. All of them descended toward him in a rush- wanting to avenge their fallen cabbages brothers- falling into Ash's trap. "Your judgment is at hand." He said as a huge circle of blue energy shot out and surrounds him, a thin veil going up at the edges but not blocking anything from coming or going; it was the veil of another dimension. Ash took his stance with Yamato at his side and quickly unsheathed it and began his work. "ASH!" He heard Megumin yell out making him smirk as time seemed to slow.
He started to dash around, slicing and cutting at the air around him sending out the Yamato's energy knowing full well what the result would be. After he felt it was done he landed at the center of the circle and teleported out on his knees; to everyone else it hadn't even looked like he drew his sword, but that thought was shattered as he walked out of the circle and clicked the Yamato fully in the scabbard. All of a sudden the air looked like cracked glass, and once the click sound was heard it all shattered causing the cabbages to fall apart all neatly cut for serving.
Ash began to walk back to the downed mage as everyone looked on in amazement before cheering for him and congratulating him. Some were too terrified to actually walk up to him, but the general consensus was he was amazing. "You called out to me." He said as he stood in front of Megumin who looked up at him angrily but with a slight blush.
"Of course I did! I didn't want to see you die out there, idiot!" She said to him simply making him chuckle. He sat down next to her and rested his head on the wall closing his eyes. "What are you doing?" She asks him, confused.
"Believe it or not, I shouldn't have been able to do that skill. I don't even have it unlocked yet; so of course I don't have even near enough mana to pull it off. I won't collapse like you do, but it still tires me a lot." He said simply, Megumin now taking notice of his heavy breathing.
"Then don't do it again! If you were unlucky you'd have died from using that much mana!" She says to him.
"Well it's a good thing I naturally make it back after losing it. But my bodies in overdrive right now, it's taking a bit to realize what happened." He says to her as Kazuma begins to start his own cleanup of cabbages.
"How are you so good with magic and mana anyway? Are you secretly a Crimson Demon that left the village?" Megumin asks him. He chuckles, so close yet not to the answer- take out crimson and you had it. But of course that was still a secret, one he preferred to stay that way if he could help it.
"No I am not. I guess I'm just really lucky." He said to her smirking. She smirks back as they continue to watch on as Kazuma actually proves his own worth in this emergency quest as well. Eventually the quest came to a close.
/A Few Hours Later\\
The party all sat at a table eating salads with content faces (except for Ash). "This is surprisingly very good." Kazuma says to himself as he thinks.
"Anyway, you saw my worth out there, I am a solidly built woman who can take a blow. Surely I can join-"
"No." Kazuma said immediately to Darkness, making her shiver indecently.
"Such immediate and cold rejection." She said.
"But Kazuma, someone like Darkness could be a huge help! She'd be able to aid us hugely!" Aqua said. Akira smirked at this and nodded.
"I'm with blue here, she may not hit anything and is an extreme masochist, but someone as tough as her would be great to have around." Akira said. Megumin nodded in agreement and now all eyes were on Ash. He looked back over to their expecting faces, Darkness almost pleading.
Ash sighed as he placed his fork down. "In terms of battle prowess she is nearly worthless if she never hits anything." Ash says, making Kazuma silently fist pump and Darkness to look down, now saddened. "However as a defense she is extraordinarily amazing. It would be unwise to take her on." The Dark Slayer says making the two switch expressions as he continued to eat.
Kazuma sighed and sat forward, chin in his hands as he gained a serious look. "I didn't want to say anything in fear of scaring people off, but there is something you all should know about our party. We plan to take down the Devil King and we are very serious about this. That is our end goal, so our adventures will start to get harder and harder as we go on. I understand if you wish to leave after hearing this, especially you Darkness. If a female Knight such as yourself were to be captured the would mean 'that' in the end." He said seriously to them. Akira and Ash however knew what he was trying to do: get rid of them at all costs.
"Yes, that's right. As a female Knight if I were to be captured I'd undergo severe and erotic torment. I'd be ruined for life. But...that's exactly why I wish to come! It is the job of female knights! It would be worth the danger!" Darkness says shocking literally everyone, but no one at the same time somehow. He turned to Megumin next to attempt to get her to leave.
"Listen Megumin, this is the Devil King we're talking about; the strongest being in this world is our target so don't force yourself-" he was cut off by the girl standing up on the table and balancing on her chair.
With a flick of her cloak Megumin spoke. "I am Megumin! I am the top wizard of the Crimson Demons and master of Explosion Magic! For the Devil King to call himself the strongest and look down on us Crimson Demons is an insult to us all! I will decimate him with my strongest spell!" She said passionately while holding up her staff.
Aqua poked Kazuma's slumped over form. "Hey Kazuma, I'm a bit scared now about this. Is there an easier way to do it?" She asked him making him mutter to himself in anger. He looked around and took stalk: a worthless goddess, a one shot mage that becomes useless after said shot, and a crusader that can't hit anything and is a huge masochistic. On the other hand there was himself who could use thief skills now and any skill that's learnable, Ash who was basically the strongest with a possible secret chip on his shoulder that Kazuma knew about, and Akira who was the best hand-to-hand fighter this world has shown Kazuma so far.
It looked bleak on one end but at least there seemed to be a balancer on the other.
Kazuma was brought out of his thoughts as Aqua spoke. "In my name I declare you the 'Elegant Cabbage Thief'!" She says annoying the poor teen. They get into a small scuffle as the guild stayed as lively as ever.