This is awkward. The guild employee is staring at my adventure's card with a pitying look. The goddess was facing the other direction trying to whistle innocently.

Far as I can tell, it's like the equivalent of having the name Adolf Hitler back on Earth.

"Hey, goddess, I want to go back to Japan."

I repeated myself more forcefully.

"I am sorry, but not even a goddess like me can do that! Hey, I know! We can think of a cool adventuring nickname you can use instead!"

She waved her hands animatedly as if that resolved the whole issue.

"Hmm, about that," interrupted the guild employee. "Mr. Satou, I'm afraid to say none of your base stats really stand out. In fact, aside from your average intelligence and luck, everything else is below average. Your initiative and magic resistance are especially poor. You would probably have a really rough time if you became an adventurer. I would recommend trying your luck as a scribe or learning a trade."

Ah. So there's the rub. Even in this world, I'm nothing special. Guess I probably should have expected this, since even back home I wasn't athletic or ranked very high academically, either. I pretty much coasted as a background character while being supported by my parents.

Now that I think about it, the boring life I lived wasn't so bad. Perspective, I guess.

The guild employee must have seen my glum look because she put on a cheerful exterior. "Don't look so sad! If you really want to be an adventurer, you can always level up your stats with hard work! Axel has plenty of weak monsters that are perfect for low level adventurers, so with the right party, you could get some experience and turn into a decent adventurer in no time!" She handed me my crisp new adventure's card.

"Yeah! Besides, you can rely on my amazing self to keep you going with my ultra-strong support and healing magic!" the goddess said while giving the thumbs up. "See? Look!"

I inspected her own adventurer's card, which she was holding up proudly. "Holy crap, you're almost level 50?!"

She was practically a late game powerhouse. My measly level one character was hardly worth comparing. All her stats were crazy high too. I guess that's a goddess for you.

"Go ahead, say it. I'm awesomely incredible, right?"

Should a goddess really be fishing for cheap compliments though?

More importantly, if there are people with levels this high, am I even needed for taking out the Demon King? Why hasn't someone else already done it by now?

"Hey, goddess, do you really think I can defeat the Demon King? I mean, my new powers haven't awakened yet, and I'm only level one with bad stats to boot. And this guy sounds super strong. It'll take a while before I even stand a chance. Maybe this whole thing wasn't such a good idea after all."

A big, buff dude in a Mohawk pricked his ears a short distance away. "So, you're looking to take down the Demon King too? If that's the case, then welcome to the gates of Hell!"

Then he just walked away, like his only purpose in life was to say a cool line like that.

The goddess and I watched him leave. As soon as he was gone, the guild employee cleared her throat.

"For now, let me show you around. Over here at this bulletin board, you'll find all the adventuring quests that have been posted. Parties looking for new members place their advertisements over in this section. If you want to begin questing right away, giant toad hunting is highly recommended for beginners."

The goddess froze at the word 'giant toad.' Well, I did too out of unfamiliarity, but I did not share her mortified look. I stepped away from the new member ads out of curiosity to read the details on giant toads.

Yeesh. They're big enough to swallow a human whole! This is recommended for beginners?

"Um, not that I'm that afraid of giant toads or anything, but do you have any other quests available right now?"

The goddess asked while touching the pads of her fingers together like a shy toddler.

I had to admit, I was kind of agreeing with her when―

"It's toad mating season right now. They're especially active, so we need extra help hunting them." The guild employee stopped and smiled brightly at the goddess. "Since your level is so high, I'm sure exterminating such weak monsters would be no problem for you, Lady Aqua!"

Hey, I know that trick, it's the same one my cute little sister uses when she…

"You're right! My level has gotten way higher since the last time I fought giant toads! I bet I'll be able to crush a whole bunch of them easily now!"

The goddess looked really fired up all of a sudden.

"C'mon, Satou! Let's go hunt some giant toads! It's time for some payback!"

"Wah! Save me! Satou, hurry up and rescue me already! Satou!"

"I'm coming, goddess!"

So to sum things up, not long after we entered the fields just outside of town, a giant toad appeared. Out of nowhere the goddess decided to try punching it, but it's literally the size of an elephant. Now she is kicking and screaming from inside its mouth. Still doing absolutely no damage, by the way.

Which of us is supposed to be highly leveled, again?

The toad was resting back on its haunches while facing skyward, trying to get the goddess to sink down its gullet. I charged in with the cheap sword I had rented from the adventurer's guild and plunged the blade deep into the monster's gut, spilling juices all over the ground and soiling my high school uniform.

Peeyoo! It stank!

The giant toad keeled over not long after, and the goddess climbed out of its gaping mouth.

"Thank you, Satou! Sniff! Thank you! Bah, wah! I hate giant toads!"

Then this goddess whom I met in the afterlife earlier today started bawling her eyes out on the ground.

"Whew, that really tired me out."

We were walking back to the city gate. The goddess had finally calmed down somewhat, but that didn't change the fact that she was covered from head to toe in toad mucus. I was resting the broad side of my sword over my shoulder and reflecting on our first battle. Just a short fight like that against a monster for beginners already had me wiped.

"Man, if that was just a weak, early-game monster from the first area, then I don't think I want to know what the Demon King is like. The difficulty setting of this world is whack."

"...? Kazuma is actually really weak."

Said the goddess off-handedly.

I walked a few paces, feeling dull-headed. "Come again?"

"The Demon King Kazuma? He's died more times than you could count. He even got killed by kobolds once!"

"Are we, uh, talking about the same thing here?"

"What do you mean?"

I stopped in my tracks. "You're telling me the Demon King of this world is so weak he was killed by kobolds? Actually, if he's dead, wh-what are we even doing here?"

"He isn't dead anymore."

"Oh, so he has, what, like multiple lives?"

"No. I resurrected him."

…

…

…

"You resurrected him."

"I really regret it now! Okay? Don't look at me like that! He wasn't the Demon King at the time!"

"Okay, I get it! Calm down, goddess!"

The goddess started yelling at me, but man was she starting to get on my nerves. If she wasn't a goddess, I would have really liked to give her a piece of my mind. Too bad that would probably be bad karma.

We started walking again.

"So, if this Demon King is so weak, why is he still around?"

The goddess looked away and dropped her voice. "He uses underhanded tactics to win fights whenever he's outclassed. His only good skill is being able to find the weakness of every opponent he faces just before losing. Somehow, he's managed to live this long even with every high level adventurer going after the bounty on his head. And when he overthrew the capital, he was so scary, even I barely recognized him."

I still couldn't see how a Demon King could be strong enough to overthrow a capital and yet so weak he could be killed by kobolds, but I decided to let it slide.

After letting a sigh escape, I asked the other question that had been bothering me. "This Kazuma Satou guy, he's gotta be from Japan too, right? Did you bring him here the same way you brought me?"

The goddess emphatically shook her head. "No no no! He was the one who forced me to come here with him!"

"Huh?"

What kind of a guy was so weak he couldn't kill kobolds, but was apparently able to kidnap a goddess?

The longer this conversation dragged, the more of a headache I got.

Just then, a small tremor shook the ground. I lost my balance and tripped over, landing in the dirt.

"Was that an earthquake?" I said, being familiar with such occurrences back in my previous life.

Then, from a spot buried in the ground just a few meters away, a giant toad sprang out and attacked!

"No! Why do they always go for me first?"

I pushed myself up just in time to see the goddess get snatched into the toad's mouth using its long tongue. My sword had fallen to the side of the road when I tripped. I quickly reached out to pick it up―

Something rough and slimy wrapped its way around my waist, lifting me off the ground.

Another toad popped out the same hole that the first one came from, and I could do nothing as it reeled me in and stuck me in its mouth.

"Help!"

"Satou! Save me!"

"I can't! Another one got me too!"

Both of us were caught!

Crap. This was bad. The giant toad's mouth was quickly enveloping me, no matter how much I squirmed and struggled. It wouldn't be much longer before my head went under.

I kicked and fought, then it happened.

All noise in the world died at once.

The toad wasn't swallowing me anymore, but I still couldn't move. Actually, I couldn't breathe either. I couldn't even blink my eyeballs. I just kept looking in the direction I was already facing, wondering why the whole world suddenly went still.

The goddess' face was frozen like a paused movie screen. (Mid ugly cry, mind you.) Even the toads were standing stock still like they were stone statues.

Then without warning, the weird few seconds of nothing moving ended unceremoniously. The goddess continued to scream and cry, the toad continued swallowing me.

"What just happened?"―

"Light of saber!"

Suddenly the world flashed brightly all around, leaving me disoriented. I hit the ground with a thud and felt a sharp pain on the side of my head. I moved my hand to rub the spot…

Huh? I could move my arm again? But it was just being pinned against my side by the toad's mouth a moment ago.

Oh.

I crawled out of the toad's mouth. It was easy to do, since the rest of its head was cleanly severed.

The goddess was grasping her way to freedom in similar fashion. "Thank you, sniff, thank you, Satou!"

"But I didn't―"

The shadow of a human form caught my eye, and I turned to the movement. A girl with glowing red eyes and short black hair stood before me. She was a full head shorter than me, and her robes were all jet black with red trimmings. A hair clip shaped as a five-pointed star was fixed above her brow. They had the effect of making her look like a kid going trick-or-treating as a witch.

The girl twisted her thin body and struck a pose like she was doing some kind of quirky idol choreography.

"I am Komekko! I am the greatest archwizard in the town of Axel! And she who will one day surpass her big sis as the strongest mage in the entire world!"

I gave her a long look. "What the hell is a Komekko? Is that even a word?"

That made her stomp angrily on the ground.

"If you have something to say about my name, then let's hear it!"

"That's your name?"

"Yes, and it's very dear to me, so please take back your insult about it not being a real word!"

I didn't really know how to respond to that. At this point was when the goddess suddenly perked up. "Oh, Komekko! It's me, Aqua! Remember? I used to be in the same party as your older sister! Wow, you've really gro―er, well, you've grown a little…"

This Komekko person tilted her head. "Have we met before, blue-haired big sis?"

"Huh? You don't remember me? I'm the goddess Aqua, remember? Indeed, that goddess of water, Aqua!"

"You shouldn't call yourself a goddess of water when you're covered in toad slime. A real goddess would purify that into holy water just with her touch."

"Wah! Komekko! You really didn't need to go there!"

The goddess broke out sobbing yet again for the―I've lost track how many times today.

Well, weird names aside, this girl was apparently the one who saved our lives. So―

"Thanks for saving us, Miss Komekko. I'll apologize for what I said about your name. How'd you take out the toads so quickly?"

Thanking her was the least I could do.

Komekko made a movement with her hand so that it was obscuring her face. "So you wish to know how I obtained this magic power? Fufu! Very well! I shall tell―you… if you… so… de…si…re…"

Before she finished her sentence, the slim little girl face-planted into the dirt.

"Hey, are you alright?" I rushed to roll her onto her side.

"I'm sorry… It's just that… I'm so… hungry… Say, are you guys… finished… with those toads?" With perfect timing, a loud rumbling emitted from the pit of her stomach.

She's so hungry she collapsed on the spot? Now that I looked at her more closely, she was startlingly thin. "When was the last time you ate?" I asked.

"About… two hours ago…"

She started drooling on my sleeve.

"Oh, gross! What the hell is with this girl?"