Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.
-o-
Chapter 2 : Die Wirklichkeit
"Ugeh... Why? I thought I had that one..."
Aqua who was covered in slime muttered with her head hanging down as she followed behind me.
She who was eaten twice a day by the very thing she wants to kill completely lost her spirit. Thus, leaving her like this.
"Let us never take a quest involving those toads again." Megumin who I was carrying on my back was covered in goo like Aqua added.
Though, I learned something now today. Apparently, you simply don't try a blunt physical attack to those toads unless you want to get eaten which is why Aqua became like that.
Not only that, I also learned that I almost killed myself the day before yesterday when I experienced a mana depletion as trying to use a magic that exceeded my mana capacity, it would directly tap my life force to make up the difference which could kill me if I overdo it. It's probably due to my luck that I 'disengaged' by falling to unconsciousness instead of using up all my mana and died a stupid death.
Wait, does that mean I almost killed myself yesterday? That can't be, right?
Uwah, it wouldn't be funny if I was killed by a mana depletion for using the 'gift' given to me.
While dwelling on about mana capacity, I didn't realize that we finally returned to the town.
"Hey Kazuma, what's with that weapon of yours? I've never seen one like it before. Is it some kind of magic staff that shoots invisible rocks or some kind of mind magic that blew those toad's head?"
Ah, I shouldn't be surprised Megumin would ask since everyone in this world haven't seen a gun yet(Aqua's an exception for obvious reason). But still, there's something bugging me a little.
"It's called a rifle. It shoots out a lethal hot lead at the speed impossible for eyes to follow. Only I can use it, though. By the way, you have other spells since you're an Arch-wizard, right? While explosion is good and all, it's only effective when we're fighting against very overpowered opponent or large mobs instead of a regular monster or small fry."
It's good that she possess a powerful spell that could be used as a trump card against a powerful enemy, but it's not something she should be using against a weak opponent, it's an overkill and moreover, a waste of mana.
"I can't."
"Huh? You can't what?" I parroted Megumin's words.
Megumin grabbed even harder and pressed her lacking chest onto my back.
"I can only use explosion spell. I don't know any other magic."
"For real?"
"For real."
A silence immediately befalls upon us.
Ha~Hahahaha~ She must be joking, right? There's no way a talented Arch-wizard can't use any other spell beside explosion, right?
The silence continued for a while until Aqua suddenly decided to break the silence.
"Wait, if your level is high enough to use explosion magic, shouldn't you be normally capable of using other magic? For example, even I didn't learn all the Arch-priest spell until after I learned the banquet party tricks."
"Hey, that's a wrong example and for what the heck would you use 'banquet party tricks' for?"
"I'm an Arch-wizard who loves explosion magic above all else. There's nothing that can compare to the magnificence of explosion magic. Explosion magic is the only one I love! I could go on as a professional solo adventurer if I learn other advanced spells instead of explosion, but I can't allow that! The only thing I love is explosion magic! Even though I could only cast it once per day, even if I will collapse after using the spell, my one true love is still explosion magic! The only reason I chose the path of the arch wizard was solely to be able to cast explosion spells!"
'I love explosion' declaration count: 4
Normally, her determination and that heartfelt declaration should be able to amaze or impress me, but hey, can you answer why there's this hopelessness I felt in my heart?
Then my feeling of hopelessness doubled with what Aqua said next:
"Wonderful! Simply wonderful! Despite knowing the inefficiencies, I am deeply moved by your great devotion!"
That answers my question eh?
Anyone whom Aqua sympathized or approve = bad news.
Even the said goddess isn't that useful in combat.
If only my life as an adventurer wouldn't end if Aqua dies, I'd ditch her far earlier.
Right, it's enough for me to take care of one problematic person, I don't want to add another number to the list.
"Yosh! That's a very heartwarming story and your dream is hard, so do work hard. Ah, let's divide the rewards equally at the guild. Yes, let's meet again if fate chooses so."
Megumin grabbed me harder after I finished.
"Hmmp... My only wish is to use explosion magic. I'll be fine without any payment."
Then she paused for a second before suddenly presenting her face very closely to my ear.
"Yes, that's right, my power as an arch wizard is available at the mere price of meals and other miscellaneous fees! How could you miss this opportunity to form a long-term contract?" She whispered.
"No no no, our weak team is not worthy of such amazing power. That's right, it's too much to ask Megumin to stay in our team with your amazing powers. A team just starting out should make do with a normal mage. Look at me, my job is even unidentified."
In order to chase away Megumin who was grabbing on to me tightly when we reach the guild, I attempted to loosen her grip.
But Megumin refused to let go.
'Why does this girl possess strong grip despite being a mage!?'
"No no no no, it doesn't matter if you are novices or strange. I might have a top tier job, but I am still a beginner too. My level is just 6. When my level grows, I wouldn't collapse after using my spells. So let's talk this over, and quit pulling my hand away okay?"
"No no no no no, it's too hard to utilize a mage that can only cast one spell a day. Let go, you got dumped by other party didn't you? Heck, explosion spell couldn't be used in dungeons or indoors, which would render you useless. Hey, release your grip. I will split the rewards equally with you! Please let go!"
Quitting my effort to be subtle in my implication of abandoning her, I bluntly reject her and it seems to have the opposite effect of making her grip even stronger.
"Please don't ditch me! No other party is willing to take me in! I am willing to carry the luggage or anything when exploring dungeons! I'm begging you! Please don't abandon me!"
It's probably because Megumin on my back was yelling 'don't abandon me', some passerby started whispering while looking at us.
Because we are in town and Aqua's appearance drew a lot of attention, it made us the center of focus.
"– No way… That man wants to abandon that child…"
"– He has a girl covered in slimy liquid with him."
"– To toy with such a small child, and to abandon her after that, what a trash. Look! Why are the girls covered in goo? What weird sexual plays did that pervert make them do?"
Yep, I was definitely being misunderstood.
Aqua who heard that narrows her eyes while looking at me in disgust as if I'm the biggest scum on earth.
'Hey, you know the real situation, so quit it.'
Megumin seemed to have heard their whispers too.
And contrary to Aqua's expression, she had-
-a shit-eating grin plastered all over her face as if foreshadowing the trouble that will soon to come.
"I am fine with any kind of sexual play! Even using the toad's slime like just now is okay! Use me to fulfill your fetis-"
"Ahhh!– I get it! I get it! Megumin, glad to have you on the team!" Before she could ruin my reputation further, I covered her mouth and unwillingly accepted her to the team to shut her up.
-o-
After going through the same thing as before, Claiming Reward - Bath - Dinner with the exception that we earned ourselves another party member(reluctantly), we split up and will regroup the next day.
In the stable, while Aqua is sleeping, I do my usual training.
Today's quest completion earned me two level up, raising my level to one level higher than Megumin. Though, it didn't have much impact on my mana capacity.
That's why today, instead of the complicated object like firearms, I'll create something simpler from the consideration of the fact that overusing my mana too much = death.
Extending my hand forward, I imagined the object before focusing my mana to my outstretched hand.
"Creation!"
A bright light temporarily engulfed the room.
As it fades out, a certain object appeared in front of me.
A military sleeping bag.
'I did it! Now I don't need to keep sleeping in that pathetic kind of pseudo-bed anymore!'
Sleeping on that haystack with a single sheet above it and having to share with Aqua isn't really a comfortable thing as I've experienced in the last three days, not to mention the cold night. So, despite not really on the comfortable side, sleeping bag is still far better than my current bedding condition.
With that, I end my 'training' today.
By the way, the next day I woke up, Aqua's pretty pissed as to why she wasn't given a sleeping bag and we got yelled by the other adventurer for being noisy.
-o-
The Next Day
Arriving in the guild, we found Megumin who's currently sitting on the table while looking at the menu.
Ah, yeah, she did say she'll be fine joining our party without taking any reward from quests as long as she had her meals and few miscellaneous fees. Let's let her have small bits rather than not at all for the next time.
Thinking about it again, I pity her... not. It's her own fault for doing something crazy as only learning one spell that will leave her vulnerable after using it.
The only reason as of why she joined our party is due to her blackmailing.
When I reminded of such things, my mood dropped slightly.
AND it's still morning.
Haa...
"Hey Megumin, you came rather early today, huh?"
"Huh? This is usual for me."
"I see."
After that, we ordered our meals and pass our breakfast rather peacefully.
With the most important meal of the day done, we decided to look for a quest.
"Eh~? What the heck is wrong with these quests?"
- A swordsman mentor for my son, Req: Swordmaster/Rune Knight
- Anyone for testing my spell, Req : High Magic Resistance/Hit Point
- Hunt 10 Rookie Killer in 3 days
- Repel a pack of 20 white wolves in the mountain range
That kind of quest.
"Is this really a beginner's town for adventurers? Why almost all of the quest put up there either really weird or for a professional!?" Bringing up my complaint to the counter lady, she could only smile wryly while answering.
"Eh, um, precisely because this is a beginner's town that there's not much threat. Located on the farthest from the demon king castle, there's no high-class monsters around and the smaller monsters will be subjugated once they're spotted to prevent the danger they could impose to this town's inhabitant."
A~Ah, if only there's herb picking quest- oh, right, there's not.
Because they grew that herb themselves inside the town and not needing any assistance in picking them that such quest is nonexistent.
What should I do?
Ah!
"Hey, let's take the giant to-"
""NO!""
Instant rejection, eh.
What should I do to gain experience and level? At my current stat that barely capable of creating a rifle, what can I do to the demon king? Nothing.
Now I'm depressed at my current situation.
"Um, Satou Kazuma-san."
Probably seeing my dejected expression, she called out to me.
"There's this recent quest of escorting a merchant's wagon from this town to a small village nearby the mountain. The difficulty isn't that hard, but the reward isn't much either, but you can gain exp and level easier since the monster living around the path you're going to take is good for a beginner."
"Really!?"
"Yes, they're going to leave this afternoon and there's a slot for one more party to join."
With that, we accepted the quest.
Apparently, the reward is 35,000 Eris per people and the maximum people for this quest is seven.
Rushing to the town's gate in order to meet the merchant we're going to escort, I can say I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the merchant is the old man who told us where the adventurer guild located and some two unknown man equipped with leather armor and each of them carried a spear and sword respectively.
"Oh, it's you again, fruit stall jii-san!"
Calling out to him, he looked at me with a puzzled expression before a realization dawned upon him.
"Ah, it's you, the brat from back then!"
"Acquaintance?" Megumin asked.
"Yeah, this geezer told us where the adventurer guild is when we came to this town for the first time."
"Oh yeah, are you already a professional adventurer? Usually, this kind of reunion happens if that's the case, right?"
"No, we're still a novice adventurer, it's just around four days since we last met, you know?"
"I know, I'm just jesting. By the way, please wait for a bit."
"Ah sure, take you time, I know you must be carrying many things."
"No, I already packed all my stuff, it's the other group of people who also accepted this quest."
"Eh?" I muttered in disbelief.
After that, he explained that some mission and escort quests are usually conducted by more than six adventurer, the maximum number a party can get. Basically, the raid system in the MMORPG.
"Ah, there they are."
Hearing the geezer's word, I looked at the incoming adventurer.
Walking toward our position are two girls.
One of them is a beautiful blonde haired woman with blue eyes.
Wearing solid metal armor all over her body, she must be a knight.
My heart skipped a bit when I keep staring at her.
And the other one is a young girl with silver hair and purple eyes with a small scar on her right cheek.
Wearing a light leather armor and carrying a small dagger, I guess she must be a thief.
"Alright, now that you're all here, let me brief you a little."
With that, the geezer told us about the path we'll take and how long we'll get to the location.
Escorting him to the next village will take around one day, six hours departing to the village, spend a night there, waiting for the geezer's trade till afternoon, six hours of returning back to Axel.
Probably because of that, he'll provide meals for us. What a considerate guy.
"Alright then, let's depart."
-o-
The Forest
Following the wagon on foot, our job is to ensure the safety of this geezer.
Using my enemy detection skill from Scharfschütze, I focused on 'anything' that isn't human or plant as the detected enemy.
But so far, there's nothing worth to note except some deer or boar running around.
So, to entertain myself, I started a conversation.
With the two male adventurers first, of course, I'm kinda nervous talking to that beautiful nee-san.
"Yo, what's your name? I'm Kazuma and these two are my party member. We're a novice adventurer, please take care of us."
"Hmm? Yes, my name is Bernard and this is my friend, Steiner." Answered one of the men while the other just nodded.
But as expected, the combination of the man of few words with a young man who doesn't have any topic to talk about creates the uncomfortable silence again.
Probably feeling awkward from the silence, the silver-haired girl started another conversation at us.
"Your name is Kazuma, huh? I'm Chris and this is my friend, Darkness."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Darkness." The beautiful Onee-san coolly introduced.
"A-Ah, yes. I'm Kazuma and these two are Aqua and Megumin. We're a beginner adventurer-"
"Who will defeat the demon king!" Aqua suddenly interjected.
"Oooh! What a great goal you have there, but are you sure you can do it?" Chris asked in a playful manner.
"Of course! If it's, I, go- I mean the greatest Arch-priest Aqua! Demon king is nothing to me! Hahaha!"
By the way, I told Aqua that she shouldn't spew around her true identity which pissed her off until I explained that she'll probably not be able to return forever if she does that. So, she settled by Arch-priest Aqua instead.
"Don't forget me, Megumin! An Arch-wizard with the control of the strongest offensive magic, Explosion! Not even demon king could withstand the might of my explosion!" She boasted while striking a pose.
PACHI
I facepalmed.
"You have a rather lively party eh, Kazuma-san?" Darkness commented while Chris smiled when hearing that.
"A~ah, you have no idea about th-"
-PING-
A small sound that indicates a group of enemy abruptly diverts my attention from conversing with Darkness and Chris.
"A group of goblin, eh? I wonder why there's that many." The geezer muttered.
Yeah, blocking our path ahead is a rather large amount of goblin mobs equipped with clubs and stone daggers.
Goblin, an ugly monster that is staple to every fantasy RPG back in my world. It is said that if your first enemy in the fantasy RPG isn't a slime, chances are, it'll be these little cretin. They're not really posing a threat individually unless you're a child, but their power lies in overwhelming their opponent with a large number or simply to say, quantity vs quality.
Releasing the safety lock of my rifle, I readied myself for the confrontation.
"'Explosion'!"
"Wha-!?"
"Hey!"
"Why do you use that!?"
All sorts of retort came from us to the stupid Arch-wizard who's being trigger-happy with her spell.
BOOM!
The horse that pulled the wagon was obviously upset with the sudden loud noise and shockwave, but the geezer managed to calm it down.
"Hey, little girl! Why do you use something like that!? It's dangerous, you know!? Couldn't you use another spell instead of that!?" The geezer complained.
I get what you feeling, jii-san, but this girl is hopeless.
With that, we continued our escorting mission without any changes beside Megumin who is now on my back while the geezer gave us an earshot to his lecture about using a destructive spell in the forest.
On the way, the problems we've encountered weren't too much.
Some wild boars coming at us, small mobs of goblins, and several treants(tree monster). Either letting the other party to attack them or fending them off with my combat knife, I managed to not use my gun which could attract other monsters from its noises.
Though, they're easily repelled, their attacks slowed our progression and we're forced to spend the night here in the forest.
After having a dinner consisted of a vegetable soup and bread, we take turn in guarding the campsite with my party taking the first shift.
Poking the bonfire with a stick, I let out a yawn.
"I kinda hope our shift end soon." Muttering that, I looked at Aqua and Megumin.
They're fast asleep.
As a vein in my forehead popped, I approached them with the intention to smack their head.
GUSU GUSU
Releasing the safety lock of my rifle, I aimed my rifle at the source of the noise.
"Who's there!?"
"Hii! Please don't shoot!" Appearing from behind the bushes while raising both her hand is a silver haired girl I know.
Oh, it's just Chris, huh?
"Hey, don't surprise me like that. My heart almost stopped, you know?" She said while putting her hand to her chest, trying to calm herself down.
"You took the words out of my mouth. Anyway, what are you doing?" Setting back my rifle's trigger lock, I lowered it while sitting back nearby the campfire as I lost my mood to smack these two.
"I'm just trying to get some fresh air since I couldn't get myself to sleep."
While saying that, she sat next to me.
"Is that really wise? The next shift would be your group's turn, you know?"
"Ah, I don't mind. I'm not sleepy at all." She explained while waving her hand.
"Well, suit yourself. Though, those words are what these two said before they're like that."
"Don't worry about it. By the way, since we've not talked much earlier, why don't we chat around so that you won't get sleepy?"
"Sure, I'm starting to get sleepy from boredom."
"Then, you said you're a novice adventurer. What makes you want to be an adventurer?"
"Huh? Why do you sound like interviewing me?"
"Isn't it fine? We're just killing time until the next shift without getting asleep, right?"
"Well, fine. But it's not going to be that much interesting, you know?"
"I told you, I don't mind."
With that, I told her about bits of my life back in my world while excluding important parts for the reason of secrecy and I haven't known her for long. About my plain life up until recently when I found a resolve to become an adventurer in order to defeat the demon king for the reward. She seems to be surprised at my goals not about saving humanity, but for a selfish thing called personal reward, but it seems that she likes it honest than a lie.
After my story ends, I asked her the same thing.
"About me, huh?" She said while looking at a distance as if reminiscing something.
Hey, you're not that old yet, right?
"Well, it's nothing remarkable."
Listening to her story, she turns out to be those kind of people who wants to live as they pleased without troubling anyone nor wants to be troubled. Ah~ I completely understand that kind of feeling- probably not since I'm troubling my family till the day I was killed. After that, we talked about stuff related to adventuring and I asked her quite a lot about this world with the alibi of being from a countryside.
"And listen here, I have an unknown job, our magician can only cast a single spell in a day, and our Arch-priest, I don't know what should I say, if I put it bluntly, she's useless and complains a lot." I rant.
In the end, our conversation turned into me throwing tantrum about my situation.
"From the looks of it, your party seems lively, is there an open slot for someone to join?" She laughed heartily before asking me about that.
"Well, our party do need another member, I think everyone wouldn't complain if you joi-"
Putting her index finger to interrupt me, she shook her head.
"No, it's not me. More precisely, it's for Darkness. That girl is really in need for a companion."
"That girl? Just how old are you to call her 'that girl'? You look around my age, right?"
"Asking about woman's age is taboo, you know?"
"Ah, sorry! But still, why would she need a companion? She's a cool beauty, she should have many friends, right?"
"No, she's a shy person despite how she looks. Behind her stoic and cool visage, she's a rather lonely person, you know?"
I see...
A cool and calm but shy type Onee-san, eh?
Could this be a flag for me?
"Kazuma-san? Hey~ Kazuma-san?"
Ah, this is bad! I spaced out!
"Yeah! Sorry!"
"No, it's not a problem. In fact, I should be the one saying sorry for that abrupt request of mine."
"Don't worry about that, I'll try to ask her when this quest is done."
"Yes, that would be appreciated. Oh, here they come."
Huh?
Looking at the place Chris turned to, it's Darkness and two other adventurer.
Ah, it's time to change the shift eh?
With that and some difficulty, I managed to drag Aqua and Megumin away before creating the sleeping bag for myself.
As I slowly drifted into the land of dreams, the last thing on my mind is how should I ask the beautiful Onee-san to join our party.
-o-
After waking up and having a breakfast of the same menu as last night, we continue our journey to the next village.
Probably because we're getting close, the number of monsters that came to us weren't much and we could see human's settlement from the hill nearby.
Yep, we're very close.
Just an hour walking, we've finally arrived at the small village.
At the gate, the guard asked our business and after showing our adventurer's card, we were finally allowed to get in.
Inside the village, I can feel malicious gaze directed at us, no, more specifically the wagon that carries geezer's item.
Seems like those are some sort of delinquent or bandit, eh?
Just in case, I activated the enemy detection and aimed at those malicious intentioned people.
There are nine people identified.
Telling the geezer about it, he only replied:
"Let them be, inside this town, even they won't be able to make any move."
Even so, I'm not feeling any better, you know? The reason why I'm here was from trusting the fact that even delinquent won't go as far as killing others.
After finishing whatever business he had, it's time to go back to Axel.
Leaving the village, I can feel the malicious gaze slowly dispersed.
That's good, I don't want to deal with those kind of troublesome individual.
During our walk, we didn't encounter any monster at all which makes our returning journey much faster. Still in the afternoon and we're already in the middle of the forest.
"Nee, Kazuma, why do I feel something fishy about this?" Megumin muttered while walking beside me.
Yeah, this is plain strange...
Shouldn't there be at least some group of goblins or small monster obstructing us? My enemy detection didn't pick anything up.
Could there be a powerful monster around that couldn't be detected which caused this?
"Hahaha! That means we're lucky today! I bet we're going to arrive far earlier without any problem!" Aqua cheerfully triggered a flag.
"Don't jinx it!" I retorted.
Luckily and unluckily, we found out the answer soon enough in the form of a group of bandits blocking our path, ugh.
No wonder my enemy detection skill didn't work. I made a blunder in only considering anything non-human as the enemy.
"Hey that geezer over there, how dare you not paying the tax of entering our villages? Ha?" One of them yelled out.
Activating my enemy detection, I spotted two bandits in our left and right wielding a crossbow.
Tch, they've planned this ambush.
"What kind of tax? This was my hundredth time visiting that village and I've never heard anything like that!"
"Shut up! If we just said pay the tax, then just pay it and not yapping around like a dog! A~Ah, now I'm pissed, what should I do?"
"Hey boss, how about we kill em all!?"
"No, don't be like that. How about this, because you pissed me off, I want you to give all the money you've earned and I'll let you off the hook." The bandit leader said with a crooked smile.
The respond he earned was a drawn weapon from Bernard and Steiner.
"Cheh, have it your way. KILL EM ALL!"
"Watch out for the archer from our flank!" I yelled out to both of them.
"GAH!"
While Steiner managed to dodge out of the way, Bernard wasn't so lucky as he took an arrow to the knee due to one second late in dodging. I wonder if he'll quit being an adventurer and become a town's guard?
"Bernard, you okay? Tch!" Before Steiner could rush to help his friend, a bandit clashed his sword against him.
"WRYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Yelled some bandits with axes and swords charging at us.
Devising the plan about this situation, I yelled out while releasing the safety lock of my rifle.
"Aqua! Heal Bernard-san! Megumin, help Aqua evacuate Bernard-san! Those who can fight, hold those melee fighter, I'll take care of the archers! Geezer, hide inside your wagon!"
Probably knowing the severity of our situation, they listened to my command.
As the others following my order, I do my role in taking care of the archers.
But before that...
Su~
Ha~
'They're a bandit who's willing to kill others for their own convenience, they can easily kill someone without remorse. Killing human without remorse = not a 'human' being, those bandits can kill another human without remorse, therefore they're not 'human'. As long as they're not human, killing them is fine. Let's not make a common cliche of losing a comrade then resolved to kill like in those anime or manga. It'll be too late by then.'
Muttering that deduction in my mind, I took an aim at the archer on our left side. Apparently, both of them are still reloading their crossbow.
BANG!
A hole formed inside the left archer's forehead followed with the sound of my rifle's lever cocked as the spent cartridge ejected.
Hearing the loud noise of gunfire, all the bandits and some of us except Aqua, Megumin, Bernard, and Chris turned their attention to me.
But that was proven fatal for the bandits as Bernard's blade managed to decapitate one of the distracted bandit while Chris kicked one of the bandit's head, causing him to be fainted.
"K-Kill that guy with strange magic tool first!" Managing to recover first from the shock, the leader yelled to his remaining goons.
By the time he ordered that, I already aimed at the right side archer.
BANG!
The last archer finally fell, let's back the vangu-
"ARGHHHHHHH!?"
Screaming in pain as I fell down on my butt, I finally noticed an arrow sticking out of my right thigh.
Damn it, that archer managed to shot me before dying!?
While gritting my teeth in order to hold back the pain, I observe the situation of our vanguard.
"YAHAAAAA!"
Just perfect, one of the bandits managed to slip around the gap of our vanguard.
With my trembling hand, I aimed my rifle at the incoming bandit.
BANG!
FUCK!
It missed!
And that miss reward me by allowing the bandit to get too close and by the time I finished cocking the lever of my rifle, it'll be too late.
The only thing I could do is to raise my rifle and use it to block the incoming blade.
"Ghhh!"
"Die!"
Damn, I'm slowly getting overpowered.
"HAAAAAA! ! !" Another voice came from behind the bandit.
SHRAKK!
A spear tip erupted from the bandit's chest.
"Huh?" I muttered dumbly.
"Are you alright, kid?" A man who should by all rights having his knee pierced by an arrow is standing before me and being my rescuer, Bernard.
Kicking away the dead bandit, he assisted me in standing up.
"Kazuma! Are you okay!?" Aqua yelled as she and Megumin rushed toward us.
From their look, they are very worried about my well-being. That's rather obvious due to the fact that Aqua won't be able to go back if I'm dead and Megumin would lose her party.
"I'm fine, but Bernard-san, how could you move like that?"
"That's because of your party's Arch-priest's superb hea-"
"ARRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! It hurts! It's fucking hu- Eh, there's no pain?" I interject with my scream as Aqua roughly pulled out the arrow out of my thigh before she healed it. The result is amazing as there's not even scar in my thigh, but my right leg is still shaky, probably from phantom pain.
"I suppose that answers your question?"
"Yeah. By the way, will you still retire and become a town's guard?" I jokingly asked.
"What?"
"No, I'm just joking. Let's help them defeat these bastards." I said while slinging back my rifle to my right shoulder. Apparently, the scope broke when I used it to block that bandit.
Taking out my Luger P08, I released its safety trigger lock.
As the Luger P08 is a short ranged firearm, my skill, Blitzkrieg activated and improve my condition as my shaky leg stopped shaking, my head gets slightly clearer, and I feel I can stand normally again.
"Let's go!"
The battle last for merely five minutes.
While the vanguard held those bandits back, I shoot them through the gaps they made and soon enough only the leader remained as three of those bandits are out cold for a while and another five of them are out cold forever.
"Bastard!" Swore the leader as he slowly backed away.
You think I'd let you?
BANG!
"FUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCK!" He screamed pathetically as a hot lead embedded itself inside his right thigh, courtesy to my Luger P08 and a payback for his underling that shot my right thigh before.
As we approach him slowly, he tried to crawl away, only to be cornered at a large tree.
Seeing us approaching, he whimpered.
"Hii! Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me!" He pathetically begs.
"What a disgusting guy." Megumin commented.
"I concur. But let's interrogate him if there are some more bandits like h-"
Intending to interrogate him, I walked closer to him only for me to leap back for a bit as a black shadow leaped from the forest and landed on the bandit.
"GYYAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Screaming in pain while hearing flesh being torn apart, I take a closer look at the being to find that it's some sort of large black wolf like creature.
When the screaming subsides along with the bandit leader's life, the creature turned at us and along with it, several glowing eyes appeared from the forest.
"What are those creature?" I muttered while slowly backing away.
"This is bad, those are Rookie Killer. A monster that is known to be the bane of rookie adventurer just like its name. They are cunning and smart enough to kill new adventurer who wasn't careful. They must've come due to the noises we made when fighting." Chris explained.
"Kazuma, what should we do?" Megumin asked while hiding behind me.
Hey, don't use me as a shield!
But still, this is a bad situation.
Scheiße.
To Be Continued...
-o-
A/N : Alright, the chapter's over and for the content, it's about Kazuma confronting the reality(hence the title of this chapter(Die Wirklichkeit) which means the truth of the KonoSuba world as despite the zaniness of it, that doesn't mean everything is a rainbow and sunshine as there's a reason why people from real world were brought over to KonoSuba world. To defeat the demon king. Also it has another meaning as this chapter shows the truth of my word about diverging from canon(some will stick around, some will not). Now, onto the info drop:
- Scheiße or you can use Scheisse = Shit, crap
- Die Wirklichkeit = The Truth, The Actuality, The Reality(For reality, you can use Realität in place of Wirklichkeit depending on the sentence)
- Weapon :
Luger P08
Type: Pistol
Calibers: 7.65x21mm Luger, 9x19mm(Used by Kazuma)
Weight: 1.92 lbs (0.87 kg)
Barrel lengths: 4 in (10.2 cm) (Standard Model)(Used by Kazuma), 6 in (15 cm) (Marine Model), 8 in (20.3 cm) (Artillery Model)
Capacity: 8-round detachable box magazine(Used by Kazuma), 32-round detachable drum magazine
Fire Modes: Semi-Auto
The Pistole Parabellum 1908—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum) is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The design was patented by Georg J. Luger in 1898 and produced by German arms manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) starting in 1900 with other manufacturers such as W+F Bern, Krieghoff, Simson, Mauser, and Vickers, it was an evolution of the 1893 Hugo Borchardt–designed C-93. The first Parabellum pistol was adopted by the Swiss army in May 1900. In German Army service, it was succeeded and partly replaced by the Walther P38 in caliber 9×19mm Parabellum. The Luger is well known from its use by Germans during World War I and World War II, along with the interwar Weimar Republic and the postwar East German Volkspolizei. Although the P.08 was introduced in 7.65mm Parabellum, it is notable for being the pistol for which the 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as the 9×19mm Luger) cartridge was developed. Fun fact: Captured Lugers were much prized by Allied soldiers during both of the world wars as war trophies. However, during World War II, German soldiers were aware of this and would use Lugers as "bait", rigging them to detonate land mines or hidden booby traps when disturbed. This tactic was common enough to make experienced Allied soldiers deeply suspicious of an apparently discarded Luger that they discovered.
Mauser Gewehr 1898
Type: Battle Rifle
Weight: 9 lbs (4.1 kg)
Length: 49.2 in (125 cm)
Barrel length: 29.1 in (74 cm)
Cartridge: 7.92x57mm Mauser
Capacity: 5 round internal magazine fed with 5-round stripper clips
Fire modes: Bolt action
The Gewehr 98 (abbreviated G98, Gew 98 or M98) is a German bolt-action Mauser rifle firing cartridges from a 5-round internal clip-loaded magazine that was the German service rifle from 1898 to 1935. It was the final development in Mauser's line of turn-bolt rifles. First patented by Paul Mauser in 1896, it was adopted by the Imperial German Army in 1898. The Gew.98 action featured cock-on-opening, meaning that the cocking piece was forced back (and thus the mainspring compressed) by camming with an inclined-plane cut into the circular wall of the bolt body. Furthermore, the diameter of the receiver ring was increased by 1/8" (3.18mm), allowing the receiver to withstand greater chamber pressures. The Gewehr 98 action, using stripper clip loading with the powerful 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, introduced advanced infantry weapon features rapidly adopted in the Anglo-American Pattern 1914 Enfield/M1917 Enfield and the Japanese Arisaka Type 38/Type 99. The Gewehr 98 replaced the earlier Gewehr 1888 rifle as the German service rifle, first saw combat in the Boxer Rebellion, and was the main German infantry rifle of World War I.
Review Response:
- XxPokemonMasterxX: That's a hilarious yet disturbing idea, but sadly he won't. Reason? This isn't a crack fic and the last thing I want is for Belzerg to be filled with swastikas and the soldiers saluting each other with Heil Kazuma. Though, the main reason as for I won't, it's because making that kind of fic is a rather racist act toward German's people.
- NickTheHun: Good for you to notice that! And no problem for the Germans as I'm currently starting to learn Germans.
- Judgment of the Arbiter and MysticSpider : I'll try my best in creating this story.
- Guest: Please use your acc to review or at least if you can't, leave a name, it's hard to respond when there's like 3 guest acc reviewing with the same name. But anyway, thanks for the review.
That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.