The guild had provided them a map designating where the goblins were. It was a cul de sac surrounded by hills. There was a single path to get there and the two of them were walking down it. Darkness was looking a bit glum.
"Okay, you're not actually mad about the gauntlets right? I did get them to help you know."
She rubbed her hands together. "It's not that. I do appreciate getting these as a gift Kazuma. As a partner and party member it makes me happy that you would do something like this for me. Though I'm still not sure about using them."
He shrugged. "You're an amazing tank, you can take almost anything. I can definitely use that. But if you can be a tank that can fight and not just be a target, well that's just perfect."
Her cheeks blushed. "S… So you want to use me."
"Of course that's what you would focus on," he sighed. It was kind of amazing he'd gotten so used to her by now. Nobody's perfect, you have to take the good with the bad.
She was still ringing her hands. "I still don't know if I'll be able to do as you ask. Standing there and simply brawling?" She shook her head. "It's hard to imagine anything less chivalric than that."
"How about telling people you'd enjoy a good beating?"
Darkness gave a loud gasp and hugged herself. "C… Cruel!"
Kazuma sighed, Getting used to this didn't mean he enjoyed it.
"You know, it's just," she chewed at her lip. "I'm not free, Kazuma. Not the way you and most of the other adventurers are. I have obligations. Things that are expected of me. Being who I am means I can never be totally free to be who I want to be."
"You ever sleep in a stable and wake up staring at a fresh pile of horse crap?"
Her jaw slipped. "Ah, no, I can't say that I have."
"Part of being free includes the freedom to starve or die in the street." Kazuma shrugged. "Nothing's ever perfect. Before I came here I spent all my time just playing games. I didn't have any responsibilities and I could do whatever I wanted. I'm sure a lot of people would have said that was a great life."
Darkness looked at him. "Was it not?"
"I'm just saying everyone has problems. Don't assume someone who doesn't have your problems has it perfect. It probably just means they have problems that you don't."
Darkness gave a slow, considerate nod. "Where are you from, Kazuma?"
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
"I've always been curious, but I thought it would be rude to ask. Especially as I am protective of my own identity. You have an accent I've never heard before; your attitudes and beliefs are very unusual, especially where women are concerned, the things you ask some times are also surprising, it's very obvious you're a foreigner. Even your name is strange."
"Is it more or less strange than Megumin?"
She tapped her chin and thought about it for a moment. "About the same I'd say."
"Ouch, that hurts."
"So, where do you come from, Kazuma? I imagine it must be a very distant land."
He chuckled. "Yeah, you might say that. I'm from a country called Japan. It is very different from here."
"And does everyone there believe that men and women should be treated equally?"
"In theory yeah, in practice they still get treated a little differently. But it's a lot more equal than here."
"Are there many powerful monsters there? Or dark wizards who like to kidnap innocent maidens and do unspeakable things to them? Is everyone there as savage and cruel as you?" She was starting to hyperventilate.
He put both hands behind his head. "Oh, it's much worse than you could possibly imagine. If you're too smart, or too stupid, if you wear the wrong thing, or like the wrong person, everyone will suddenly turn on you and make you an outcast. People who you thought were your friends will betray you just to appease the crowd. If you don't fit in you can expect to be despised and mocked and your life is made a living hell."
"Really?!" Her face was flushed and she was panting.
He nodded. "That's not even the worst of it. Once a year we have a special holiday called Jiraiya Day. We gather together all the most beautiful women with large boobs and drag them to the city square. They get publicly stripped, tied down, and then spanked by perverted old men as crowds watch and cheer. Their families are given front row seats and forced to watch. And if the physical abuse weren't bad enough, as they're being spanked all their deepest darkest secrets are yelled out for the crowds to hear. The girls all end up crying and begging for mercy as every single person they know looks on at them in disgust and loathing."
She was shuddering and locked her knees together. Her breathing was so ragged the was afraid she was going to pass out. Darkness threw her head back and gave a cry that sounded like something straight out of a hentai game.
Kazuma stopped and his eyes when wide. Did she just-
She looked at him struggling to get her breathing back under control. "It all makes sense now! No wonder you're so savage and cruel! If that's the sort of society you come from it's no surprise you have no sense of mercy or decency!"
"Hey! I'm not that bad!"
"Kazuma!" She grabbed his arm and brought her face an inch away from his. "You must take me to your homeland! This Japan sounds like the most barbaric place in the world! We have to go!"
Having her so close after making that kind of noise was making his heart race. Kazuma tried to pull away but her grip was like a vice. "Uh, Japan is a really, really long way from here."
"I don't mind! I'll gladly travel there no matter how long it takes!"
"Well, getting there is sort of difficult. It's not like we can take a ship or follow a road."
"If you survived the journey I am sure I can too! It sounds too amazing! I want to go there no matter what."
"Fine, we can go, I'll take you. But only after we defeat the Devil King."
"What?" She let go of him.
Kazuma took a couple quick steps away from her. "Yeah, I haven't told you this, but my ultimate goal is to defeat the Devil King."
She stared. "It is?"
"That's right. Obviously that's a distant goal, right now I have to worry about getting stronger and just surviving. But my ultimate objective is to kill that guy."
Darkness calmed down and was giving him a very serious once over. "Do you truly mean it?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Is that because you hope to replace him and conquer the world yourself and begin a reign of savage tyranny?"
"What?! No! Of course not! I want to save everyone from him! Geez, Darkness what kind of guy do you think I am?"
She shrugged. "The sort who could look at the Devil King, the most wicked and evil creature in existence, and think he could do it better."
He gawked at her and wondered if he ought to work on his reputation. Why would anyone think something like that about him? "Anyway, I know I never brought it up but that is my long term goal. What do you think?"
"If you want to defeat the Devil King I will absolutely fight at your side!" She slammed a fist into a palm. "Since ancient times it has always been the duty of a female crusader to be his erotic plaything! I will not shirk this grave responsibility no matter how much I may suffer for it!"
Why am I not surprised? "Okay then. And once he's defeated we'll go to Japan to celebrate. I'll even take you to Tokyo Disneyland."
"What's that? Is it a place of debauchery and sin where people worship false idols and commit all sorts of self-indulgent and decadent acts in the name of vile, petty pleasures of the flesh?"
"Wow, it's like you've been there. They also have souvenirs and T shirts."
XXX
Following this interaction, they continued down the path towards the goblins. As they went Kazuma came to an abrupt stop and held put a hand.
"What is it?" Darkness asked.
"I sense an enemy coming towards us."
"Just one?"
"Yep."
"It's not a goblin then. They always travel in groups. It might be a strong monster." She looked eager.
"Well, it's an enemy so we need to kill it no matter what it is. Vanish." Kazuma disappeared. "Draw its attention and I'll take it out."
"Understood."
As Darkness stood in the middle of the road Kazuma took a spot a little ways off that gave him a clear view of the path up ahead. He took out his bow and nocked an arrow. Kazuma felt it approach. One of the drawbacks of his Detect Enemy ability was that there was no way to gauge how dangerous the enemy might be. What was coming could be a dragon or a goblin and his sense of it would remain exactly the same. He'd heard of an ability called Identify Enemy that would give you basic information such as race and an estimate of level. It was an advanced form of Detect Enemy, and because it was an advanced skill he couldn't acquire it.
Kazuma spotted it when it came around a bend. It was some kind of feline monster bigger than a lion. It was all black and had fangs coming out of its jaws like a saber tooth tiger. The instant it spotted Darkness it began sprinting towards her and growled. Darkness's reaction was an eager sigh.
Kazuma wasted no time pulling the string of his bow back. "Snipe!"
The arrow hit the monster, but in its shoulder, not in the eye where he was aiming. When he sued Snipe he could normally hit exactly where he wanted. Did he miss because it was moving too fast? He hurriedly nocked and drew back another arrow. "Snipe!"
He again hit the monster, but not where he wanted. The second arrow stuck out its side. The monster hadn't slowed down or given any sign it had even felt the arrows. It was too fast and he got no chance to draw a third arrow before it was on Darkness. It leapt onto her, sinking it's teeth deep into her shoulder.
Or trying to. There was an audible, 'chomp' but no blood and Darkness gave no sign of pain. He'd seen the swords of the bandits bounce off her and knew intellectually she would probably be fine. But when Kazuma saw a monster trying to devour her, memories came flooding back.
"Darkness!" He tossed his bow aside and drew out Excalibur. He activated his Backstab skill and ran towards her.
Kazuma jumped in and stabbed with all his strength into the monster's side. The point of the magical blade cut through its hide and suck in about six inches. The monster let go of Darkness and let loose and blood curdling roar! It twisted and swung around. One of its claws caught him and he was knocked to the ground before he could make it a killing blow. The sword remained planted in the beast's side. Kazuma hit the ground hard enough to lose his concentration and reappear. He stared up at the open jaws closing in on him.
"Kazuma!"
Darkness moved in a flash. She ran forward and punched the big cat right in the side of its head. There was a loud snap, and Kazuma saw its head twist around. The monster stumbled and fell over.
Kazuma scrambled to his feet grabbing his dagger as Darkness got between him and the beast. They waited for a couple heartbeats, but it didn't move. Just to make sure, Kazuma took his dagger and cut open its throat.
"Are you all right, Kazuma?"
"I'm fine, thanks to you. Are you okay? That thing tried to take a big bite out of you."
She grinned at him. "It would take more than that for a rookie killer to hurt me."
"Is that what this thing is called?" he grunted and pulled his sword free.
She nodded. "They're high end predators who like to prey on low level adventurers. They usually herd weak monsters like goblins or kobolds to use as bait."
"So the goblins brought here by this thing just to lure out a party?"
"Probably."
He grinned at her. "Too bad for him he got such a bad ass team, huh?"
She smiled back and then glanced down at her gauntlets. "You know, Kazuma. Maybe using these won't be so bad."
XXX
They continued on and wiped out a total of thirty goblins. With Kazuma sniping away as Darkness stood there completely invulnerable it hardly even qualified as a fight. When they returned to the guild and reported eliminating the rookie killer they were given a special 100,000 eris reward for it along with the 150,000 earned for the goblins.
Goblins were not worth much xp, so Kazuma did not gain any levels. Darkness however gained two and was now level ten. She also gained two new skill points. Kazuma suggested she apply them to Hand To Hand Combat, Grappling, Punching, or even Swordsmanship. When she instead used both to acquire Greater Parry he was a bit annoyed, but not really shocked.