As soon as Chris finished her beer she excused herself and headed out. Kazuma was left sitting with his new partner and member of his third team. His first team ended when Aqua dumped him for the blond jerk. His second ended when everyone else got eaten. He honestly didn't have high hopes for this third one.

"Hey, can I see you adventurer card?"

"Certainly," Darkness handed it over to him.

Kazuma took it and looked it over. She was a level eight crusader, same level as him. Level eight seemed to be a kind of plateau where you started to need a lot more xp. He was honestly surprised to see her intelligence was about average. Apparently being a masochist didn't mean you were dumb. Her strength and constitution were both very high, almost as high as his luck stat. He had seen her during the cabbage harvest, so he knew she wasn't completely inept. He went through her abilities.

"You don't have any spells."

"The crusader class is restricted from learning magic," Darkness informed him. "But in exchange we can learn almost any fighting or combat skill."

"Well, I guess that makes sense." He looked at what she had listed.

Defense.

Guard.

Parry.

Magical Resistance.

Physical Resistance.

Greater Defense.

Supreme Defense.

Greater Guard.

Supreme Guard.

"Ah, aren't your skills kind of heavy on defense? I don't see even one weapons skill here."

Darkness nodded. "That's right, I believe the role of a crusader is to defend others. Therefore, my skill choices reflect that." Her face blushed and she squirmed a bit in her seat. "Y… You don't need to worry about me, I can take any beating without complaint."

"I believe you, but that's not what I'm worried about." Kazuma muttered.

Kazuma himself had no fighting skills except for Backstab, but he could still use his sword and daggers well enough. This world didn't run on 100% game logic where if you didn't say have the cooking ability you would burn anything you tried to cook to ash. Obviously, for magic spells if you didn't have them you couldn't use them at all. But for physical acts human beings could normally perform, like swinging a sword, having a skill simply meant you became much more proficient in it than someone who'd never touched a sword. Obviously, Darkness could still use her weapon. But it worried him a little that she didn't have a single sword skill. Shouldn't a knight or crusader be just as worried about the offense as the defense?

"Hey, would you mind a doing a test with me?"

"A test?" She leaned forward and looked eager. "What did you have in mind? Are you planning to tie me up and see how high my pain threshold is?"

"Down girl," he leaned back away from her. "Even if it's just for this one quest it's kind of important for party members to know what one another can do. So, could I just see you perform as a crusader?"

She sat back proudly. "Of course, Kazuma! It would be my pleasure to demonstrate my skills to you!"

XXX

The adventurer's guild didn't train people, that wasn't their responsibility. Even so, they kept a small stock of wooden practice weapons that they could lend out to guild members as a courtesy. Kazuma borrowed two wooden swords and headed out back behind the guild. When he mentioned he was going to spar with Darkness a few people in the guild hall had started to chuckle. He was surprised when most of them followed him and Darkness outside. They didn't say anything, just stood there looking like they were waiting for a show to start.

Bastards, he thought. They're probably expecting to see her beat the crap out of me. Sorry, but I'm not that helpless. Darkness also noticed the small crowd and looked oddly uncomfortable.

"Okay, I don't have any sword skills myself, so don't go crazy on me, all right? You don't need to prove how much better you are than me. I just want to get a rough idea of what you can do. Got it?"

She nodded. "Understood."

"Then to start, how about this? Let me attack you, you just defend, no hitting me. Then it'll be your turn to attack. How's that sound?"

"In that case please wait a moment." Darkness stabbed her wooden sword into the frozen ground. (That by itself was kind of intimidating.) She then began removing her armor.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"My armor is mostly decorative to allow others to know my station. I have complete confidence in my defensive skills even without it. I want you to know you can depend on me totally, Kazuma." Her armor was soon piled up at her feet. She stood there in nothing but a black body suit and long skirt. She threw her arms out to either side. "Please attack me! You don't need to hold back! Strike me as hard as you can for as long as you like!"

"Uh, you sure?" As a firm believer in gender equality Kazuma had absolutely no issues with hitting a girl. But just beating on one seemed a bit much. He didn't need people saying he was a panty thief and abuser of women.

"Yes!" She cried out. "Show me no mercy!"

Kazuma glanced back over his shoulder at all the adventurers watching. No one raised a complaint or looked upset. Actually, they all looked kind of bored.

"Okay, fine, but don't blame me if I break something. Yaaaahhh!" He gave a battle cry and charged in, wooden sword over his head. He brought it straight down into her chest with all the strength and momentum he could muster.

Crack!

He could feel the impact race back up his arms and he let out a low grunt. The sword had struck home, but the girl hadn't so much as flinched.

"More please," she sighed with a joyous expression blossoming across her features.

Kazuma obliged. He stood there and wailed on her, hitting her in the chest, ribs, arms, shoulders, and legs. Pretty much everywhere but her head. Darkness stood there, just absorbing it without any reaction but a smile and content sighs. After about five minutes of this, Kazuma dropped his sword and bent over panting with his hands on his knees.

"Okay… your… defense… is… awesome."

"Thank you."

He took a few minutes to recover then stood straight and held the practice sword in what he hoped was a good defensive position.

"All right, it's your turn. You attack and I'll defend."

As soon as he said that he could hear the crowd begin to giggle and snort and chuckle.

Crap, we're both level eight, I had no clue the difference between us was so huge. She is going to kill me. But I can't back out now after wailing on her. I'll just deal with it and heal myself after.

Darkness looked uncomfortable. "You know Kazuma, we could just stop here. I don't really feel the need to demonstrate what I can do with a sword."

He shook his head. "I appreciate it, but it's only fair you get your turn. This was all my idea anyway, so go ahead. But, ah, try not to hurt me, okay? You told me to go all out, remember?"

She gave a glum nod and wrenched her sword out of the ground. "Understood. Then here I go!" She charged in, holding the wooden blade with both hands. Even to an amateur like Kazuma her form looked magnificent and she didn't seem to be holding back at all.

Fuck my life, he thought and gritted his teeth.

"Yaaaahhh!" She cried out and swung, making the air whistle.

Her sword missed him by about a foot.

The adventurers suddenly burst into laughter. Darkness remained where she was, her face turning red.

Kazuma blinked. "What was that?"

"I… I missed."

"Yeah, I know. Why?"

"Ah, you see, I-"

"Darkness, I seriously appreciate you not wanting to hurt me, but I really want to know how good a fighter you are. It's fine if you hold back, but go ahead and land your strike, I have armor underneath my shirt, and I know basic healing so it'll be okay. Please take this seriously."

"Understood," she sounded miserable.

She launched another attack. Then another, and another and another. She swung at him half a dozen times and didn't connect once. And as this continued the laughter from the crowd got louder and her face got redder.

After six missed attacks Kazuma stared at her. "Are you screwing with me?"

"N… No, while I have full confidence in my defense my offense has always been somewhat lacking."

"Lacking? I'm standing in front of you not even moving!"

She hung her head.

"Hold on a minute." He headed back into the guild hall.

"Where are you going?"

He ignored her. She and the other adventurers watched having no idea what he was doing. A minute later he came back out holding a wooden chair. He set it down on the ground in front of Darkness.

"Okay, maybe you're worried about hitting me. I want you to hit this chair as hard as you can, destroy it. I'll pay so there's no need to hold back."

Darkness hesitated.

From the crowd people called out.

"Seems like a fair fight."

"I've got ten thousand eris on the chair!"

"Sucker bet!"

"Yaaahhhh!" Darkness screamed and launched a series of ferocious attacks, her blade whistling through the cold air.

The chair remained untouched.

The crowd was roaring, and Darkness's face was as red as a tomato.

Kazuma was getting ready to tear out his hair. "Are you kidding me?!"

"This is not the kind of humiliation I like!" Darkness cried.

XXX

After all the laughter died down Kazuma and Darkness went back inside to talk.

Kazuma was furious and trying to contain his temper. Chris soooo owed him for this. "Look, I don't want to be mean or anything, but how are you so freaking worthless?!"

She gasped and hugged herself. "So cruel!"

"Hey!" He pointed a finger right at her. "Don't you dare enjoy this! I am asking a serious question here! I was able to kill a pair of giant toads as a level 1 with no weapon skills. How can you be an advanced warrior class and not able to hit a chair? I mean how is that even physically possible?"

She stared down at the table. "I don't have an explanation. I have always been focused on taking punishment. Inflicting it has just never interested me."

"Okay, you get that a five year old with a toy sword would be more dangerous than you, right?"

"Kazuma! You have no mercy!" She was gasping and squirming.

He wanted to take a bath with a ton of soap. He let out a long sigh. "Listen, I already made a promise to Chris. So, I'll go with you on this escort mission, but that's it. As soon as it's over we go our separate ways, got it?"

"Understood." She hung her head.

Kazuma got the directions from her for where to meet the carriage tomorrow and headed home. He just hoped the mission went smoothly with no complications.