"Satou Kazuma, welcome to the afterlife. Unfortunately, you passed away moments ago."

Those were the first words Kazuma heard as he regained consciousness, a girl walking past him as he fully came to. He'd been on his way home, new game in hand, when he had seen a truck about to hit a little girl. He might be a shut in, but even he couldn't just let a little girl die. Looking about, he tried to take stock of where he was.

The oddly empty expanse around him somehow still felt small, as bizarre as that was to think. There wasn't much to it, just the floor, himself, the chair he was sitting on, the person across from him who had spoken, and the bit of furniture she was using.

The girl was gorgeous, there wasn't any other way to do her justice. Long, shapely legs, flawless-pale skin, a cute face, and uniquely blue hair.

"Your life was a short one, but you are, in fact, dead" the girl finished, crossing her legs and steepling her fingers.

Still slightly dazed, his first thought wasn't of worry for himself, but instead of the girl. "What about the girl I pushed out of harm's way?"

"She's alive" was the simple response from the girl, clearly having done this all dozens if not thousands of times.

"Thank goodness" he sighed, happy his death hadn't been in vain.

The goddess, for that is what she was, stared at him confused, before consulting the book. "Actually, she wouldn't have gotten hurt, even if you hadn't pushed her out of the way."

"What?"

"That tractor was going to stop before it hit her" she explained, closing the book before turning her attention back to him.

"Wait a second" Kazuma requested, becoming agitated and confused.

"What is it?" The goddess asked, leaning in to listen.

"'Tractor'?" He clarified, having sworn it was a truck.

"Yes, it was a tractor," she confirmed.

"Then what happened? Did I die by getting plowed over by a tractor?" He asked, wanting clarification.

"No, you died of shock. You mistakenly thought a truck ran over you."

"I died of shock?!"

Here, the goddess couldn't hold back her laughter, starting to laugh uncontrollably. "I've been doing this for a long time, but you're the first human to ever die in such a bizarre way." She didn't even have the decency to stop laughing at his misfortune, continuing to giggle into her hand. Kazuma, rightfully so, was only getting angrier as she continued, the girl he'd never met making fun of him. "You were so terrified that you'd be run over, you wet yourself. You passed out and were taken to a nearby hospital and the doctors and nurses laughed at you as you had a heart attack-"

At this point, Kazuma had had enough, covering his ears and screaming, "Stop it! I don't wanna hear it!"

The goddess got up, walking up to him as he panicked before whispering in his ear. "Your family just rushed to the hospital, and now, even they're laughing out loud at the cause of death."

"Stop, stop!"

"Well, I've vented enough stress for now" she said, flipping her hair, a pink flowing bit of her outfit seeming to disintegrate behind her with the action. "My name is Aqua. I'm a goddess who guides humans who die young to the afterlife. You have two choices. You can start from square one with a new life, or you can go to heaven and carry on like an old man." She then leaned back in, whispering the next part. "To tell you the truth, heaven isn't the dreamy place you all imagine it to be. Not only is there no TV, there are no manga, or games, either. You don't even have a physical body. So you can't do anything sexual, either. There's nothing to do there but bask in the sun for all eternity."

"Huh? What?" Came Kazuma's dumbfounded response, all of this being a bit much for him to take in at once.

"Yeah, you don't want to go to a boring place like heaven, do you?"

"Uh, yeah?" He half asked, half agreed.

"On the other hand, starting over from square one isn't so fun either. On that note, I've got a great offer for you! You like games, right?" Kazuma nodded, allowing her to continue. "That world, which had long enjoyed peace, is being threatened by the Devil King's army!" At this point she had started making a whole show of it, motioning and speaking as dramatically as she could to really sell the idea. "The livelihoods its citizens have worked for are being trampled by monsters. Everyone lives in fear of the Devil King's army's merciless pillage and slaughter!" At this point a literal beam of light lit her up. While it was very over the top, she seemed smug and proud of her sails pitch, hoping to have sent yet another poor soul to toil away in the world she actually had dominion over. "Since that's the sort of world it is, everyone refuses to be reborn, so the population is declining."

"I see" came the very unamused response of Kazuma, wondering what she was getting at.

"So, we decided, 'why not send people who've died in other worlds there with their bodies and memories intact'?" She explained, adopting a 'what can you do about it' pose.

"What's the point in sending me there if I'm just going to be killed?" He asked, a completely reasonable question.

"That's who I'm doing you a big favor. I'm granting you the right to bring one thing of your choosing with you. It could be a powerful weapon, or a tremendous talent. You'll be able to redo your life with all of your original memories. To top it off, you can bring one thing of your choosing!" Kazuma was lost in thought as she continued to ramble on, lost in his own mind for the moment. "And the people of the parallel world will earn someone battle-ready to help them. Not a bad deal, don't you think?"

Kazuma was silent a moment longer before responding. "I want to ask something. Will I be able to speak this other world's language?"

"That won't be an issue. With the kind support of us gods, we'll overload your brain so you'll be able to learn it instantly. As a side effect, you might just go 'poof' if you're unlucky, though. So, all that leaves you to do is to choose a powerful ability or a piece of equipment."

Kazuma leveled her with a nasty look, having been paying attention enough to her the 'poof' part of her explanation. "I just heard you mention something really serious. What do you mean, 'poof'?"

"I never said that" she tried to lie, sparkles coming off of her.

"Yes, you did."

Ignoring his indignation, she started her special effects back up, spinning with a whole lightshow accompanying her. "Now, choose! I'll grant you one power that is second to none!"

Kazuma started looking through the sprawled out pieces of paper, each with a different power or piece of equipment on them, trying to figure out what he wanted to choose.

While he was trying to be strategic and think things through, Aqua had sat back down, munching on some chips to pass the time. "Hey, hurry it up. No matter what you pick, it's all the same. Nobody's expecting much from a shut-in game nerd anyway."

"I'm not a nerd! And I died after leaving my house, so I am not a shut-in either!" He argued, slapping his hands on the floor, scattering some of the papers.

Aqua couldn't look like she cared less if she tried, licking her fingers clean of chip dust. "None of that matters. Just hurry it up. I've still got lots more deceased humans to guide, you know."

Kazuma seethed in rage, staring at her as he monologues in his head. 'Damn her. Getting all cocky just because she's a little bit cute.' Panting in frustration, he came up with an idea. "'Hurry up and decide,' huh? I'll do just that then. Pick one thing to bring to this parallel world, right?" He asked, stumbling to his feet.

"That's right," she confirmed, clearly getting impatient.

Kazuma pointed at her, setting in motion a series of events neither could have hoped to know. "Fine, I choose you."

It was now Aqua's turn to be confused, a chip still dangling out of her mouth. "Huh?" They both stared at each other in silence, Aqua finishing her chip before a magical circle started to appear beneath him. "All right, stand there and don't leave the magic circle-" she stopped midway to getting up, just realizing what he'd said. "Wait, what did you just say?"

In a golden explosion of light, another being started to descend from above them with angelic wings. "Your request has been accepted, I will be taking over for you in the meantime, Aqua."

Aqua started to freak out at that revelation, panicking and trying to prevent herself from being sent with him. Kazuma could only feel sadistic satisfaction at dragging her down with him.

-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-

The sounds and scents of the new world assaulted Kazuma as his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the midday sun. The 'void' they'd been in had been much more muted in its lighting, so the sudden transition was more than slightly harsh. He wouldn't have given it up for anything though.

Horse drawn wagons, rustic houses, stone bridges, and clothes that looked like they were straight out of a fantasy movie. He was really in a fantasy world! One where he would get to be the hero, save the princess and kingdom, and hopefully hook up with said royalty. It might have taken him dying, but life was finally looking up for Kazuma.

A pathetic sniffle escaped his new companion, Aqua's body slumped forward, tears welling up in her eyes. "But, I'm a goddess. How could I be sent down to help?" She whined to herself, not understanding just how exactly she could have been so unlucky.

Kazuma, feeling bad for the first time, gently patted her shoulder. "Oh, come on. It can't be that bad. Look at it as an opportunity! You'll get to see how your followers live, help slay the Demon King, make the world safer for them, and get a break from sorting through all of those souls! Doesn't that sound like a refreshing change of pace?" He asked, using what little he'd gleamed of her personality to try and motivate her to get out of her funk.

She sniveled only a touch more, wiping her nose on her sleeve as she thought about what he'd said. She hadn't been able to physically visit her followers in centuries, so he wasn't wrong in that regard. Axis Order members did tend to die every year from the Demon King's army. She did effectively just get a vacation from soul sifting. Maybe he was right, maybe this could be enjoyable? At worst, she could use the time to evangelize herself. "Hmph, maybe you have a point. Very well, I'll withhold judgment, for now. Come along then, we can't exactly expect you to save anyone without joining the Adventurer's Guild." She grabbed the sleeve of his tracksuit, dragging him along towards where, she was almost certain, the guild hall for this town was.

It took her three tries to get it right.

-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-

Standing before the reception counter of the Guild Hall, Kazuma was stuck with a decision to make. He wanted to become a hero, that much he knew. The fact he would be rewarded when he killed the Demon King barely mattered, he just wanted to be the hero. It was the dream of every shut-in and otaku to become the guy that saves the kingdom, the day, and then marry the princess! The fact that his "best" class option was Merchant though isn't exactly ideal for defeating a demon army.

Kazuma and Aqua made an odd pair to say the least. With him being almost the textbook definition of an average teen and her being literally a goddess. Sure, they're the same height, but where he has normal brown hair and an unimpressive physique, Aqua is, frankly, otherworldly beautiful. The fact that she is a blue haired goddess might be cheating in that regard, but it is what it is.

Before making a rash decision and just choosing adventurer, he pulled Aqua off to the side. "So, how do the classes work here? I'm not going to just be stuck forever as a Merchant if I pick it, right?"

Aqua tilted her head in thought, finger on her lip as she thought. "So, if I remember correctly you can change classes later if you have the needed stats…I think you can refund points too! And think about it! Between you and me, we'd be able to make so much money! " she finishes while drooling a bit, the goddess lost in her daydream.

Thinking about it for a moment, Kazuma realized something. Nothing was saying he had to spend the points in the class he had earned them in. So if he leveled up a bunch and got in shape as a merchant, he could reuse all the points in a combat class later! Smirking proudly at his realization and plan, he whispered to Aqua, "Hey, can I put those points in the combat class I take when I change?"

Thinking about it a minute more she goes over it a bit. She doesn't think there would be an issue with the idea, it just had never been tried before. "I… THINK, that works? Nobody's ever tried it before I think?"

Smirking, Kazuma confidently approached the desk again, now that he has 'confirmation' his plan will work. "I'd like to go with Merchant."

Luna, the receptionist smiled as she filled out the Guild Card for him before handing it over. "Alright, as a merchant you start off with Appraise and Quick Counting. Future skill points can be used to increase your ability to handle money or create and sell products." Handing over the Guild Card, she lets him look over it a moment before continuing. "Since you aren't a combat focused class, we don't expect you to take on missions to repay your sign up fee either! Instead you'll be working in the hall for a minimum of thirty five hours per week with food and board provided for you. You'll work off your debt, excluding commissions in roughly five years time" she finishes, looking completely innocent at the revelation she'd just dropped on him

"WHAT? FIVE YEARS OF NEEDING TO WORK RETAIL? I'D HAVE JUST STAYED DEAD IF I KNEW THAT!" Kazuma yells, pointing an accusing finger at Luna as his knees shake. This was it. The end of his freedom and will to live, stolen by the one and only thing he'd managed to proudly avoid in his first life - RETAIL WORK.

"Well, you can reduce the time by paying out of pocket or by earning commissions of course," Luna blinked, leaning back slightly at the force of his reaction, yet never losing her pleasant smile. "Any profit you bring the guild outside of doing your day to day tasks will generally earn you five to ten percent of the proceeds. Most commissions are earned through negotiation of mission contracts and selling of items from adventurers, just to clarify" she finishes, handing him a little pamphlet that explains his job duties.

Looking through, it doesn't really seem to be all that bad. He'd occasionally work the main counter, but he'd mostly work the mission room and the materials desk, and occasionally needed to go over contracts with clients and adventurers when there was a dispute. Mostly back end stuff since they tried to keep the 'eye candy' up front where it might lure more business in for the guild. The fact that he'd have a room though does bring up one issue though. "Um, it says here I do get some extra money for expenses. Would it be possible for Aqua to share my room if I paid for her?" he asked politely. While part of his motivation to make sure she doesn't just straight out abandon him, he also feels slightly responsible for bringing her down with him. Also, just because he was about to be a wage slave doesn't mean she should suffer that badly. He was mad at her, but he wouldn't wish that upon even the Demon Lord.

Nodding eagerly, Luna agreed, "Of course your girlfriend can stay with you! It would be quite rude of us to separate you like that."

Aqua goes to open her mouth, "I'm not-" only to be quickly followed by Kazuma covering said mouth.

"One moment please" he asks of the receptionist before turning to Aqua, whispering at her. "Just play along unless you want to have to find a place to sleep, you useless goddess. We have no money here for you to get your own room so until you've done a few jobs and have money this is the best offer we're going to get" he quickly explains.

It takes Aqua a moment of thought before a spark of recognition sparks behind her eyes, nodding eagerly. This was perfect! She'd be able to make sure he was working on defeating the Demon King while

Kazuma turns back to Luna, nodding with a thumbs up. "We'd like that a lot, thank you."

"Great then! I'll have one of the girls show you up in a few minutes and then we'll get you started on training. Be ready to work Kazuma!" She finishes with the same smile on her face.

As the two go to sit at a table and wait, Luna can't help but laugh mentally at what she'd just done. It was pretty obvious they weren't really a couple, but they looked so cute together that she couldn't help herself and decided to give them a little nudge in the right direction.

-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-

Luna had been nice enough to give Kazuma a small advance on his pay so that Aqua was able to eat while she taught him the basics of his day to day.

First, she started off by showing him the storage room. Walking into it, Kazuma is torn between horror and awe. While it was a massive store room, stacked well over a dozen feet high with shelves, drawers, crates and chests. While it was interesting to see such novel fantasy objects such as swords, armor, furs and potions, it is still just a storage room at the end of the day.

Smiling to himself, he quietly activates his newly acquired skill on a nearby potion, excited to see just how broken the most cliche, overpowered of abilities is. A small screen shows up for him with a simple "500 Eris" on it. No name, no explanation, just the rough monetary value of it.

Slumping his shoulders in defeat, jaw slacking he can't help but complain. "That's it? That's all Appraise tells me?"

Luna laughs, patting him on the shoulder. "You're oddly enough not the first to complain about that. Newbies think it will let them know a fake from the real thing when it tells them the value, but fail to anticipate a high end fake having value all its own. That's why we still need to inspect valuables." Kazuma felt his dreams crumbling just a little. In most light novels and anime, 'Appraisal' was frequently the first step toward some truly overpowered cheese, allowing the user to quickly find hidden ways to abuse the heck out of everyday items. Here however, it seems it did no more or less than assault the idea of a market determined by supply and demand… Or maybe it accounted for that? Either way, it was a disappointment. Motioning towards a shelf of miscellaneous furs, Luna set down a book next to it at a desk. "So, for your first task, I want you to sort out these furs. Divide each pile by what they're from, and order them from least to most valuable. This book should have all the information you need to figure it all out, but feel free to come for help if you need it."

Sighing, he takes the offered seat and cracks open the book. At least this would be somewhat educational.

-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-

After a few hours of sorting through different objects and the like in storage, Kazuma was now onto the part he'd actually been dreading. Customer service.

Luna is standing behind him, observing for now to make sure he has it all under control. "Remember, while the customer is 'always right' they can also be lying scumbags. For kill missions, it's fairly easy to confirm that they did it or not by checking their 'recently slain' entry on their Guild Card. Turn in quests can be a bit trickier since some try to pass off fakes and the like for a tidy profit. For the most part, you'll just need to check the mission they took, see they finished it, and hand them their sack of money. For turn in missions, there is a 'rough value' number on the quest flyer that will let you know what each piece should roughly cost. For objects this doesn't work on, we will generally have an identification tool on hand for you to use."

Kazuma can already feel a headache coming on as she explains all of this, too much information at once overloading him. He doesn't have too much time to recover though as his first turn in comes up, Luna letting him handle it all himself.

Luna can't help but be glad he'd taken the Merchant class. Sure, she might have tricked him slightly by not warning him, but he doesn't look like he'd currently make it far as an Adventurer. The fact that he was one of the best new trainees she'd seen in a long time wasn't hurting matters either as he sent a customer away for being short two kills on their card. The adventurer had tried to get a partial payout, but it had clearly said ten slimes slain for the reward!

-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-

If he was being honest with himself, it wasn't nearly as bad as he had been expecting. Sure, it kind of sucked that Appraise didn't work like it did in all those stories, where it was low-key overpowered, instead just giving a rough value to the appraised item, but at least it took guesswork out of buying and trading everything the adventurers brought in. Largely all he did was keep his area neat, catalog sales and items, and of course actually trade said items for Eris. The fact that most adventurers didn't want to get on the guild's bad side and just accepted any reasonable offer given to them also helped avoid the more aggravating aspect of retail work. The worst was a guy that came in claiming to have a giant wolf pelt that was just some poor, unfortunate dog's fur. The would-be con-man had gotten a stern warning from Luna for that and told he was on thin ice with the guild for trying to sell them fake goods. Plus, the guy killed a doggo! Who does that?!

The night was finally winding down, his shift over as the mission hall and trade counter was closed for the night. At this stage of the day most of the business was just the cafeteria and the inn portion of the hall. If somebody came in with an emergency or large haul he could get called on to help, but that was unlikely in the beginning town for most adventurers.

Sitting next to a bored and sulking Aqua, he gently nudged her, putting a bowl of soup in front of her. "Eris for your thoughts?" He asks, finding it slightly funny that the currency was named after her fellow goddess.

Grumbling a bit, she slides the bowl closer as she sips a bit. "Stupid junior… Why can't the money be named after me? To answer your question though, the food here sucks. The soup is barely better than warm water, the bread is hard enough to stop a knife, and they won't let me drink anything alcoholic. I'm a goddess dang it! I am used to dyning on the finest of foods, wines and delicacies!"

"Well, did you even look to see if there are any quests you can do? Just because I'm stuck behind the counter doesn't mean you have to sit here wasting your 'godly' talents. Heck, if you can help get my debt paid off, the sooner we can actually adventure to try and get you back to heaven, right?" He asks her, trying to appeal to her desire to go back home. His eyes land on her sadly staring at her drink. "Besides, if you make your own money, you can just buy the wine you want." It seemingly works as she perks up, a massive smile on her face.

"You're right! I'm an Archpriestess! I can totally find a party and make us a ton of money. Heh, maybe you do have some decent ideas, ya NEET."

"NEET? One of us has a job now and it ain't the one in blue,!" He tries to complain but is quickly stopped by Luna joining them with her own plate of food.

Greeting them both, she makes herself comfortable. "You did very well on your first day, Kazuma. Most new hires aren't quite as literate when they start out and it slows them down more than a little. You seem to be more educated than most - more so than some of our senior members, even.." She means it too. As a medieval styled fantasy word, literacy wasn't the highest even compared to a low end neighborhood on earth. With how much Kazuma had read manga and played his games though, he was faster than some scholars. He was just thankful that for whatever reason, he didn't have to re-learn the entire language from scratch.

"Aw, thanks Luna. It wasn't all that bad really. I can't wait until I'm all settled up and can try adventuring myself though" he blushed a bit, not used to getting such praise at all.

Aqua looked smug at just how easily flustered he'd gotten, but before she could say anything Luna jumped in. "Well, have you considered your plan for that then? With your current stats the only class you'd qualify for is Adventurer and… well, they don't exactly have a long life expectancy. If you're serious about doing it, I'd recommend picking a class or even advanced class to raise your stats towards while you work here. As an employee you do have access to the training facilities and the like after your shift."

Kazuma started eating while thinking about that. The fact he wouldn't be charged for trying to get into shape and prepare himself was definitely nice. He had taken a short look at Aqua's card just to see what kind of skills she could learn and already had access to. Her ability to heal, buff, and even resurrect somebody was absolutely insane! The fact that she seemed to lack attacks and defenses despite her high stats were worrying though. He would need to think of a class that could handle her blind spots while she hopefully kept them alive. While, yes, they could always try to recruit more party members, that wasn't something he terribly wanted to rely on when he was going to have however long to work on his stats and level up anyway. Swallowing his food, he asked Luna, "Is there any martial class that can use magic like a mage at all?"

Luna happily nodded proudly. Her long time serving with the guild had let her see all manner of adventurers, even those with the more obscure classes. "Yes! The Eldritch Knight sounds like exactly what you want. It isn't a very common class because of it's high requirements and skill cost intensity, but it can learn most spells that mages can learn, is similar to a normal knight in terms of martial skills, and even has a few unique abilities to itself. You'd need to put quite a bit of work into it though. While your intelligence is fairly high, you have no ability to use magic right now and your physical stats are… underwhelming, to say the least. If you try though, you could easily be ready before your debt is paid off!"

Kazuma winced at her tactful description of his physical capabilities. Overall, the class sounded like a mixed bag. He had never really been one for hard work, but he was going to have a lot of time to wait and he did want to be the hero. It didn't take long before he nodded, in agreement. "I guess I know what I'm working towards then! Hopefully I can occasionally bug a guild mage or two to give me pointers in figuring out the whole mana thing."

With that, the three of them fell into a comfortable conversation of less serious matters, just enjoying the meal. Well, enjoying it once Luna broke down and gave Aqua a bottle of beer at least.

-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-

This was an obstacle neither god nor mortal had planned for. Dressed in sleepwear that the guild had spare, Kazuma and Aqua sat in the middle of the room, staring each down, neither willing to back down from their conviction. The argument?

Who got the bed and who was stuck with the floor.

"I am a lady and a goddess! Be a man and take the floor!" She hisses at him, trying to keep her voice down so the other workers won't hear her.

"I believe in gender equality and I am the one that has to work in the morning and worked earlier today! The bed is mine!" Kazuma growls back, jabbing a finger at the argumentative goddess. The same argument has been going back and forth for nearly ten minutes and both were starting to grow tired. "If you want to sleep on the bed that badly feel free to join me, but I am not sleeping on the floor."

"What, so you can feel up my divine body? Fat chance of that happening to you, you, VIRGIN!" she exclaimed, her voice rising in pitch, holding herself at the thought of him doing unspeakable things to her. She had seen all of the more questionable media he had partook of in his past life and wasn't confident he'd be a gentleman given an excuse.

Kazuma has taken Emotional Damage!

His shoulders slumped, the insult having hit him harder than he'd like to admit "…that was uncalled for" he deadpans, trying not to let her know just how bad it had gotten to him.

Taking a deep breath, he scratched his head, trying to think of a compromise. "How about this, I sleep facing the wall and you sleep near the door. I don't usually move that much in my sleep so it should be fine and you have an easy escape IF I do anything. Deal?" Thinking it over for a moment, she eventually pouts, nodding but clearly not happy.

Climbing into bed, he crawled under the cover, holding it up politely for Aqua even as he kept his back to her. She gently takes it, sliding in with a blush of her own and a scandalized expression. If any of her fellow divinites ever got wind of this, her reputation would never recover! Keeping her own back to him, she does need to be touching him slightly to fully be under the cover and not hanging off of the usually single person bed. "Do you have any more room over there Kazuma?" She asked, not particularly wanting to start the night off while touching him.

Snorting lightly, he shook his head, as he tapped the wall. "Sorry, my knees are already touching the wall. Any further and I'd be in the next room." Shuffling about to get a touch more comfortable, he decided to try and be nice, nudging her lightly. "Good night, Aqua."

"…good night, Kazuma."