A NEET IN SHINING ARMOUR IV: A SKILLFUL APPROACH

Satou Kazuma woke up slowly, his eyes still feeling heavy. He was in his stall in the stables, the place where he has had to call home as of late. Despite having ample amounts of Eris thanks to the recent quests, Kazuma decided that it would be smarter to save them for new gear, repairs and food costs. That, and spending money on a room in the inn was really burning a hole in his pocket.

"Ah…" Kazuma yawned, stretching his arms out as far as he could. He stood up and brushed the hay off of his tracksuit, the one he brought with him and the one he was yet to replace. "I really need to get myself out of the stables…"

The boy looked out of the small window in his stall, where the sun was shining in. "Man, this isn't how I imagined life in another world would be like. I mean sure, I get to fight with a sword like a real knight, but income for us beginner adventurers is awful. So much so that sleeping in the stables is normal…"

'Adventurers in this world are like job-hoppers back home. Just like us, job-hoppers can't earn enough to buy permanent housing.' Kazuma thought. 'Even with a special weapon like my own, making enough money to cover all of our expenses is difficult…'

"In games like these back in Japan, the best way to keep interest up is to make an objective for yourself. For me, there's only one objective I can think of…"

-time skip-

"Guys, there's something I need to make clear about my goal as an adventurer." Kazuma said, a serious look adorning his face. He had decided that the best thing to do would be to gather his party members in the guild.

"Of course Kazuma, what is it?" Darkness asked. The other two simply sat there, looking at the boy expectantly.

"My goal is to defeat the Demon King." Kazuma said, without any hesitation. "It's a very hefty goal, one that many others also share. But I believe that with our combined skills, taking the Demon King down will be a piece of cake."

"Killing the Demon King… that really is hefty…" Megumin muttered. "But, you don't need to worry. You have Megumin, the master of Explosion magic, on your side! The Demon King won't stand a chance against me!" Naturally, Megumin's reaction takes a 180 degree turn. She suddenly jumps up out of her seat and poses dramatically.

"I agree with Megumin-san. Defeating the Demon King is definitely a high goal, but I'm sure we'll be able to take it on if we all try. Between Megumin-san's explosion, Kivana-san's special powers and your swordsmanship, we'll cut through the Demon King's army with ease." Darkness commented. Kazuma found it strange that such a perverted and masochistic woman could be so calm and observant at times.

"Yes! I believe we can do it too!" Kivana yelled, pumping her fist into the air.

'Ah, so she's an optimistic type?'

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting you guys to agree so easily." Kazuma said.

"Of course we'd agree! We're your party members. Even if we've only been together for a few days, I still value you all as friends." Darkness said. "I'll follow you all the way to the Demon King's army, Kazuma. No matter what horrible fate might find me on the way, no matter what kind of… h-horrible monster may take me captive and u-use me, I'll still follow you."

"You couldn't help yourself, could you?" Kazuma muttered, a look of disappointment on his face. "Anyway, I just wanted to get that out of the way. If any of you don't feel the same and don't wanna follow my path, feel free to leave. For those who stay, I need your help. I need to get some more skills for myself, other than the Sword Training thing I already have."

Darkness's head perked up at the sound of the word 'skills.' "I could help you, Kazuma. Since you can only learn fighter skills, my skill set will be the only ones you can learn from."

"That is true, I can't learn any mage or priest skills thanks to my class restrictions." Kazuma commented. "What skills do you have?"

"I have quite a few that increase my own defense and attacking skills, but I have one that will surely help you the most." Darkness said. "Let's go outside, it will be easier to show you the skill that way."

-line-

Later, Darkness and Kazuma had gathered in an empty street near the Adventurer's Guild, with Megumin and Kivana watching from the sides.

"Now, the skill I'm going to show you is called Power Strike. It essentially lets you hit harder, so your strikes deal more damage." Darkness informed. "Once I show you the skill, it should appear on your Adventurer's Card as a skill you can learn. This also applies to any other skills you see in use."

Darkness then raised her sword. "Watch closely, Kazuma." She then raised her sword into a striking position. "Power Strike!"

Darkness's yell echoed down the street as she moved forward, her sword glowing orange as she swung it down. As the sword soared through the air, an orange trail was created that lead from the tip of her sword to where it was before her strike. Moments later, a nearby sign to the right of Darkness fell off of its stand.

"Oh, o-oops.." Darkness said sheepishly.

"Darkness, why do you even have skills for attacking if your strikes can't hit anything?" Kazuma asked. "Seems a bit redundant, doesn't it?"

"Well, I originally began compiling them in the hopes that they would help with my accuracy, but sadly that wasn't the case. So once I found that out, I stopped gathering those kinds of skills and began compiling skills that helped with my defence." Darkness explained.

"So you just… gave up?"

"I'll give up on teaching you if you keep going on about this!" The crusader growled. "Ah, anyway. Look at your adventurer card now, and select the Power Strike skill. It doesn't cost that many skill points, so you should be able to afford it."

Kazuma took out his adventurer card and sure enough, Power Strike was on the list of skills he could learn, sitting all on its own. "Ah, here it is. Do I just touch it?"

"Swipe your finger over the skill tab and the skill will be learned." Darkness explained.

The boy placed his finger over the Power Strike tab. 'So, this is all it takes to learn skills? I thought you'd have to actually learn it by reading or something, not just watching someone else do it..' Kazuma thought as he swiped his finger over the skill's tab. The words 'Power Strike' changed colours from its usual graphite-black to a bright green. Kazuma's mind was suddenly hit with a strange feeling, as if his brain was expanding to fit the knowledge of Power Strike into his memory.

"Ah! This feels…" Kazuma began.

"Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that. Learning a skill leaves a very strange feeling in the back of your head, as if you've accomplished a really great thing and you're basking in the glory of it." Darkness commented, using a rather strange analogy. "Now, you should be able to use the skill just by chanting it before you swing. Which comes to my next point…"

'Oh no, who knows what kind of perverted thing she'll ask of me?' Kazuma thought. While he didn't exactly hate the thought of doing that kind of thing with Darkness, he just didn't want to deal with the masochistic nature that came with the crusader regardless of their situation.

"Please spar with me!" Darkness cried. "It would be the best chance for you to test the skill outside of a fight and it would also help me with my accuracy problems. Not only that, but it would be payback for me teaching you that skill!"

"Me? To spar with you?" Kazuma asked. "Are you sure that's the best form of payback? I could just take you out to a dinner or something, you know."

"I am certain with my decision, a sparring session is what I want." Darkness replied, a stern look on her face. "Besides, you're gonna buy us all dinner anyway, so I won't need to go with you for a special dinner."

'Ouch, even rejected by my party members...'

"Uh, alright then. Let's go then." Kazuma decided, drawing his sword in the middle of the empty street.

"A-Are you sure here is the best place to spar? We could always go outside the walls-" Darkness began.

"This is where we'll spar. The gates are too far away and I'd like to be able to relax today instead of trekking all over Axel and the land around it." Kazuma replied. "I may be an adventurer but I'm also human, I need rest."

"Oh, I guess that's fair." Darkness mumbled, before regaining her serious composure and taking a defensive stance. "In that case, come at me!"

Kazuma raised his sword silently and rushed at Darkness. Much to Kazuma's surprise, Darkness was able to stop his initial sword strike with her own sword, something he thought she was incapable of doing. This continued for a short time; Kazuma swinging his sword at Darkness and Darkness blocking each of his strikes. Then, the tables turned and Darkness charged towards Kazuma. The boy kept backtracking while Darkness moved slowly forward, slashing her sword left and right as she took a step. Kazuma and the two onlookers, Kivana and Megumin, couldn't help but notice how each of Darkness's strikes caused a gash to appear either in the stone paved road underneath them or on the walls of the nearby buildings.

"Ah, you're good at this Kazuma!" Darkness yelled as their swords clashed for a moment, allowing them to talk face-to-face. "But you're no match for me!"

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Kazuma replied, flashing Darkness a confident grin before stepping back and preparing for another strike. "You're almost unstoppable when it comes to defence, but I have the upper hand for attacking!"

Kazuma put all of his strength into his next swing, and Darkness flinched and grit her teeth when their swords met again. She found that it was increasingly more difficult to hold his sword back using her own, as if her sword was struggling to take the hits.

Kazuma smiled, as if he was aware of Darkness's predicament. So he swung his sword again, at the same angle as before. And again, and again, and again. Kazuma kept up this flurry of attacks, continuously bringing his sword over his head and sending it back down with the exact same amount of force as all the other swings.

Kivana and Megumin, who were silently observing up until now, were in complete shock. They knew Kazuma was pretty powerful, and they also knew that Darkness was incredibly resilient. One would have to simply look at her Adventurer's Card to find that out. However, none of them expected Kazuma to overpower Darkness in such a manner.

'K-Kazuma-kun is so strong…' Kivana thought, covering her mouth in awe.

'Who would've expected Kazuma to be so skilled at sword fighting…' Megumin thought. 'I knew he was strong, but I never thought he'd be this strong.'

"Ugh! Y-You're better than I thought!" Darkness grunted, sweat beginning to roll down her face. "But d-don't misunderstand! I-I could do this all day!"

'She's definitely struggling, as if it wasn't obvious enough.' Kazuma thought as he pulled his sword back for another strike.

Kazuma held his sword to his right and looked to Darkness with a fierce expression. "This was fun, Darkness, but now I'm finishing this!"

"Hah! I'd like to see you try-" Darkness began.

"Power Strike!"

Kazuma let out a loud and mighty scream. Just like when Darkness gave her demonstration, Kazuma's sword began to glow orange as it soared through the air. The crusader moved her sword to block the incoming blow, but it was futile. When Kazuma's sword made contact with Darkness's, his swing faltered for only a second before it cut right through the blade. What's worse is that the sword kept it's speed, travelling right into Darkness's chest armour.

Everyone gasped. The tip of Darkness's sword fell to the ground with an unceremonious clink, and both the sound from the falling sword blade and the collision between Kazuma's sword and Darkness's armour echoed down the street for a good few seconds.

"Oh… oh my god! Darkness, are you alright?" Kazuma asked, his eyes fixated on the point of impact. His sword was wedged in the small crack it made in her armour, refusing to move when Kazuma tugged at it.

"I… I-I'm... " Darkness managed to pant. Kazuma slowly moved his head up and looked at Darkness's face. Her cheeks were bright red and her breath was deep, yet hitched and irregular. "Mmmmmmh…" She moved her hands between her thighs and struck a very… lewd pose. Kazuma also noticed that, through his peripheral vision, Megumin had moved to cover Kivana's eyes.

"Um…" Kazuma couldn't describe what he just saw.

"K-Kazuma… thank you f-for this sparring session.." Darkness managed to say, despite her… condition. "I'm g-going to… go change…"

Nobody could put what they just heard into words. After removing Kazuma's sword from her side, Darkness slowly moved away from everyone else, her broken sword still in her hands. The rest of the party wordlessly walked the other way.

-line-

An hour or so later, Kazuma's party (minus Darkness) were at the Adventurer's Guild looking for quests. They had been going on quests at least once every two or three days so the party could have a consistent flow of Eris coming in, but this time was different. Usually they would have found a quest that would be relatively easy for their combined forces to defeat in no time, but…

"Why are there only super-difficult quests here?!" Kazuma yelled.

"Kazuma, Kazuma! Let's do this one!" Megumin's voice called to the young knight.

"There's no way we're doing that quest, Megumin. 'Subjugate the Rookie Killer?' It's called a Rookie Killer! I don't know if you noticed, but we're rookies! We are that things prime targets!" Kazuma yelled in refusal.

"Kazuma-kun! How about this one?" Kivana called. She was jumping up and down while pointing to a quest on the board, which was easily noticeable due to the insane amount of red skull stamps on it.

"Kivana, that quest is a bit out of our league." Kazuma grimaced, sighing to regain his composure. Turns out Kivana was pointing to a 'Subjugate the One-Hit Bear' quest. "I don't know which is worse; a Rookie Killer or a One-Hit Bear…"

"Ah, I see you've seen the available quests.." Kazuma turned around to see Luna giving his party an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid that one of the Demon King's generals moved in near the town, so all of the lower-level monsters have left. The only ones that are left are those along the lines of the Rookie Killer."

"Damn it! Well, there's nothing for it. Looks like we're off quest duty for a while." Kazuma muttered, with a hint of happiness in his voice.

'Now that we don't have to do quests all the time, I could relax! It'll be just like old times!' Kazuma cheered mentally.

"Since we don't have any quests to do, please take me shopping, Kazuma." Megumin said suddenly.

"W-What?! Shopping?"

"Yes. I wanna buy some magic items that increase my mana, so I might be able to let off two explosions in one day!" Megumin smiled, imagining a day where she could achieve such a thing. "It's not like you have anything better to do, right?"

"Well, that is true, but…" Kazuma began. "Why do I have to go with you? Can't you take Kivana with you instead?"

"She's coming along too, and I'm not gonna let you sit indoors all day like some shut-in." Megumin replied, a strange bitterness in her voice. "You're an adventurer, so you can't become a NEET or whatever."

'You can't become what you already are…' Kazuma thought. Despite promising to ditch his old life as a NEET and begin a new one as an adventurer, the boy couldn't shake off his old habits.

"Ah, fine. Let's go then." Kazuma said, making a move to the door.

"Well, there's only one more thing we need to sort out first.." Megumin interjected. "None of us know where there are shops that sell magic items…"

Kazuma's eyebrow twitched. "Wouldn't you know something like that before you go to buy magic items? Besides, I'm pretty sure Kivana's lived here all her life. Won't she know where those kinds of shops are?"

"I'm sorry, Kazuma-kun, but I don't." Kivana added, a tinge of sadness in her voice. "I've lived in the church my whole life, remember? I don't know very much about the rest of Axel."

"And I don't know all too much about this town either. I was raised in the Crimson Demon Village, all the way near the front lines of the Demon King's army." Megumin explained. "I've only been here for a week or two."

"Jeez, alright then." Kazuma turned his head and yelled; "Hey Luna-san! Do you know where any magic item shops are!"

"Yes, I know of one! Not many people go there, but I don't know why. Maybe you guys'll find what you're looking for." Luna replied, hastily moving back to where Kazuma was. "It's just down the road to the right of here, it's called 'Wiz's Magic Item Shop.'"

"Thank you, Luna-san. We're off now!" Kazuma announced, smiling and waving to the staff member, not even paying attention to her response.

-line-

Shortly after, Kazuma and co. were able to find the store that Luna told them about. 'Wiz's Magic Item Shop', it was called. The store itself was rather small, at least 5 metres wide. The front of the store mainly consisted of the stained glass window and door, as well as the hanging sign which displayed the shop's name.

"So, this is it? It really has that fantasy feel.." Kazuma muttered.

"...fantasy feel?" Megumin asked, but nobody paid much attention to it. "Ah, no matter. Let's go in!"

Megumin was the first to enter, eagerly pushing the door open and walking in confidently. Kivana followed closely after, just managing to squeeze through as the door shut on its own. Kazuma was last to enter, hesitantly opening the door and walking through without the confidence that Megumin wielded.

"Ah, welcome! Please, feel free to browse my wares!" A soft, feminine voice called from the shop's counter. Kazuma's eyes quickly darted to the source of the noise, then began to wander. The owner of the shop was seemingly very young, with pale white skin, brown eyes and brown hair which covered her right eye. She flashed the trio a warm smile, which caught their attention. However, Kazuma was more caught by what was below the face. The shop's owner wore a purple dress with a darker purple robe over the top, and was kept together by a conveniently placed strap which sat underneath her rather large breasts.

"Hello, shop owner-san. Do you have anything that can increase my mana?" Megumin asked, heading right for business matters.

"I do indeed. Oh! And my name is Wiz, I'm happy to meet you!" The shop owner, Wiz, replied. She gave Megumin a large smile and called her over to one of the isles.

"This item should do the trick. This bracelet will increase your mana pool tenfold!" Wiz exclaimed, handing it over to Megumin. Kazuma, who had taken interest in the item, moved closer to Megumin to inspect the bracelet.

"Hmm, this does increase your mana by a lot…" Kazuma said softly, but gasped when he kept reading. "..but it also increases the spell's mana cost by the same amount!"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I didn't even notice that when I bought it!" Wiz said apologetically, rushing to put the item back on the shelf she found it on and left to find another suitable item. "Honestly, I never expected it to do that…"

"Oh, here's one!" Kivana's cheerful voice echoed throughout the shop. Wiz quickly made it to where the priestess was pointing to.

"Yes, this one is a very good one! It negates mana cost entirely!" Wiz yelled, handing the item to Megumin. Just like last time, Kazuma went to inspect this one too.

"No mana cost… just think of all the Explosions that would let me do!" Megumin cheered.

"No, this one's a dud too! It makes spells drain your health instead of your mana!" Kazuma cried. "Wiz-san, why do you have such useless items on your shelves? This could kill someone! Especially Megumin, who can only use Explosion once before collapsing!"

Wiz placed the item back on the shelf, just like the last one, and looked away bashfully. "W-Well, my old friends used to say that I was really forgetful sometimes and didn't always look into things as much as I should. That's probably why my store is unsuccessful."

"Your store is unsuccessful? Surely you have a few good things in here, not everything can have a crazy bad effect, right?" Kazuma said, trying his best to sound reasonable.

"I'm afraid it is. Now that I look back, a lot of the items I have bought to sell here all have an unreasonable side effect to them. I haven't been able to make enough money to cover the costs of buying more items to sell, so I've been stuck with these.." Wiz explained, her cheery smile now gone. "B-But don't worry! I'm sure I'll bounce back! I always do."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry Wiz-san." Kazuma replied, looking down at his feet before a great idea came to him. "Hey, what if you joined us on quests? You'd have to become an official adventurer though and learn some fighting skills, but I'm willing to give you a share of the profits."

"T-That's very thoughtful of you, um.." Wiz began.

"Oh, I'm Satou Kazuma."

"Yes, that's very thoughtful of you, Kazuma-san. I'm already an adventurer and I'd love to join you all, but I have a shop to run so I won't be able to join you very often, if at all." Wiz replied somberly.

"Wait, you're an adventurer? Do you have any skills I could learn?" Kazuma asked.

"Uh, Kazuma? I don't know if you can learn any skills from Wiz. She seems like a mage, and you can't learn mage skills, remember?" Megumin said, pulling on Kazuma's sleeve to get his attention.

"That's right, Kazuma-kun. You'd have more luck with learning more skills from Darkness-san." Kivana piped up.

"Oh, that's no problem. I have a few skills I could teach you." Wiz replied, her smile returning to her face. "Come outside for a second, we're gonna need more space to demonstrate some of these."

Wiz walked out of the store, unconsciously taking Kazuma's hand and softly dragging him out with her. Naturally, Megumin and Kivana followed after them. Kazuma and Wiz then stood out on the open street facing each other while the other two watched from the side.

"Okay, Kazuma-san. The first skill I'll show you is called Drain Touch. It can drain someone's mana and vitality and add it to your own, as well as being able to transfer your own mana and vitality and adding it to someone else." Wiz explained. "To demonstrate this, I'm going to need to take your hand. Can I do that?"

"Uh… s-sure.." Kazuma replied, sticking his hand out in front of him. Wiz then approached him and gingerly took his hand in hers.

"Prepare yourself." Wiz warned, just before a sharp feeling spread throughout his body. This sharp feeling, originating from the spot that Wiz is holding, slowly made Kazuma feel more and more tired. This feeling was only felt for a few seconds, until Wiz moved her hands away.

"Uhh… w-what was that?" Kazuma asked in a daze, struggling to keep himself standing.

"That was Drain Touch, Kazuma-san." Wiz replied. "Go on, check your Adventurer Card. It should show up."

Kazuma then pulled out his card. Megumin and Kivana both walked up to Kazuma and they, too, were surprised to see Drain Touch on the list of learnable skills.

"W-What? Isn't this Drain Touch thing a magic spell? Why can Kazuma, a man with a fighter class, learn it?" Megumin asked, half yelling.

"Well, it's simple. I'm a Lich, a powerful type of undead. The Lich skills don't follow the same rules that conventional skills use, and so it can be learned by anyone if they're taught it." Wiz explained. "Now, please know that I'm not a bad Lich. I became this way after I sacrificed myself to save some old friends of mine, I have no intention of hurting anyone."

"W-Why did you have to make that clear..?" Kazuma asked hesitantly. It seemed a bit suspicious to him.

"That's because most people who find that out are shocked and try to kill me because they think I'm dangerous. I just wanna run the shop.." Wiz replied. "Anyway, there's one more skill I want to teach to you. But, I'm going to need to use your sword, if you don't mind."

Kazuma wordlessly drew his sword and handed it to Wiz, who took it from him and held it without any issues. "The next skill is called Ice Touch, which you use on a weapon like this sword, like so."

"Ice Touch!" Wiz yelled. A layer of ice formed around the sword, which gave off a cool steam. "Now, anything that touches the sword gets frozen and easier to break." Wiz then handed the sword back to Kazuma. "The spell only lasts if you're holding onto the hilt of the sword, otherwise it'll melt."

Sure enough, the ice that was around Kazuma's sword had melted and dripped onto the stone road in the form of water. "Wow, thank you Wiz-san!"

"It's no problem, I was glad to help!" Wiz clasped her hands together and sent Kazuma another warm and innocent smile.

'T-Too cute…' Kazuma thought as he took his sword back.

"Well, I'm sorry that I couldn't get you guys what you were looking for.." Wiz said, turning herself to face Megumin and Kivana.

"It's alright Wiz-san. I'm glad you were able to help us in some way." Kivana replied, flashing the lich an innocent smile that could rival hers.

"Well, I guess we're off now. I'll be sure to let you know if we have a free space for you to join us, Wiz-san!" Kazuma yelled, giving Wiz a small wave before walking back to the guild.

"I'll be looking forward to it!" Wiz yelled back, watching as Kazuma's party left. "Hmm, he was rather… cute. I can't wait to see him again.."

A/N: I forgot to do Kivana's stats last chapter, so I'll do them here. Also, I want to add a ship into this story but I can't think of one, so far I'm leaning towards Kazuma x Wiz. Let me know what you guys want and I'll (try to) do it.

Name: Kivana.
Level: 1.
Class: Priest.
Health: 2500.
Strength: B.
Vitality: B.
Intelligence: C.
Luck: C.
Skills:
- Turn Undead.

Name: Wiz.
Level: 20.
Class: Lich.
Health: 4000.
Strength: C.
Vitality: A.
Intelligence: A.
Luck: C.
Skills:
- Drain Touch

- Ice Touch
- Explosion