Quest: Complete!
5 Giant Toads Killed! Reward: 125,000 eris

Got paid.

Got bathed.

Got changed. (My school uniform was washed somewhere along the way.)

Got food.

The Adventurer's Guild, a place where adventurers gather to swap stories and information and relax at the end of a hard day's work. Inside it holds a tavern with a bar. Incidentally, toad meat is considered a delicacy here. It's a little tough, but has a buttery and light flavor.

"Wow, my level went all the way up to four!"

"Big 'eal. Nom. Gib me amo'her pees'a your frie' toh'!"

The goddess sat across from me as she stuffed her face with food and talked at the same time. Sauce was smeared on one of her cheeks. Before receiving my permission, she reached across the table and picked up one of my toad strips.

"Barkeep! More bubbly, please! I'll take your finest stuff, if you don't mind! Nom!"

I wanted to say something, but compared to Komekko―whose cheeks were stuffed like a squirrel's―the goddess' manners weren't that bad.

Guess nobody wanted to hear about my growth. Or maybe the goddess' level is so high a couple levels is nothing for her.

Still, there was that weird incident during the second wave of toad attacks. When I asked the goddess about it after our baths, she said she didn't know what I was talking about. Did she not notice everything freezing like that for a few seconds?

I sighed and stashed away my adventurer's card for now before trying to poke a carrot.

It dodged my fork and jumped off my plate, which didn't amuse me. Vegetables being self-aware creatures and a subclass of monster was going to take some time to get used to.

Ah well. If I raised my level by three in just one day, I'll probably be an overleveled powerhouse myself in no time.

…Is what I want to say, but the receptionist earlier told me my stats were trash-tier. Plus everyone knows that the early levels in any game are a breeze to raise. Assuming even that RPG fundamental wasn't contradicted by this world's bizarre mechanics.

Now my tomato is making a break for it too, even though it's already sliced. Like I said, bizarre.

"Still, once I gain a few more levels, I'll be able to upgrade my class from Adventurer to Archer. Maybe then, my special powers will finally kick in," I muttered.

Komekko gave me a curious look when I used the words 'special powers,' like she wanted to say something, but not badly enough to take a moment's break from dinner. I'm beginning to suspect she has that one sickness. No, not 'beginning to suspect,' I'm already pretty sure. She must be entering that age… All that's left is for her to start wearing an eyepatch or bandages.

You know, her stack of empty plates is getting rather high. We agreed that she would only get a small portion of the reward for our party's quests going forward, just enough to pay for her essentials like food.

What are the chances I'm getting the raw end of this deal? She can't possibly eat that much, can she?

Across from me, an overleveled goddess whose usefulness in battle has so far been negative was sitting there eating and drinking without a care in the world. To my right, a girl who by all accounts looked too young to be an adventurer was clearing plate after plate with me footing the bill.

At least she should have no problem using her magic tomorrow. I encouraged myself with that thought. And if she still can't perform tomorrow after a feast like this...

I stood up. "Toilet," I muttered.

The goddess looked up. "Do you need me to go with you?"

"No, no, I can manage," I quickly excused myself.

"Bah! In that case, bring some more toad meat back with you!"

Komekko decided saying that was important enough to swallow for. I raised my arm to indicate I heard.

Man, what an exhausting day. Dealing with those two was a serious pain. I really want to get online and complain about them to all my friends back home. Oh, and I promised to tell them about how my confession today went―

Ah.

That did happen just today, didn't it?

I don't believe it. I forgot all about getting rejected. It really stung at the time, but I got so swept up in coming to this world, I really did forget. I guess that's an isekai for you. Like downloading a fun new game and losing track of time playing it late into the night, I forgot all my worries for a little while.

Granted, the difficulties of my life as a high school student were just replaced by new troubles, so it's not like anything changed, really…

Well, nobody will see me smiling in here, so it's fine.

The guild sure is crowded, I thought to myself as I walked back to our table. A few adventurers glanced my way as I passed. I am just starting out here, so it makes sense they would be curious about a new face.

As I got close, I began to hear shouting from the direction of my destination.

"What do ya mean, my jacket is gone?! You did the trick, didn't you? You must know how to bring it back!"

"It doesn't work like that! I said I would make it disappear, and so I made it disappear!"

A couple of adventurers had sat down in my spot and one was arguing loudly with the goddess. He had distinct blond hair, while the other sitting beside him had a dark curtain of hair that partially covered his eyes. I immediately recognized the blond-haired one as someone I passed when I first arrived in town; such a distinct feature stood out even among all the uniquely designed background characters of an adventurer's guild. My instinct as a Japanese person was that he died it that color, but my reason told me that wasn't necessarily true for here in another world.

He looked like the type of person who would bump into you on the road, fall over, and demand payment for medical bills in any case.

"You bitch! My winning lottery ticket was in that jacket's pocket! I was finally about to strike it rich! That means you owe me the 100,000,000 eris I was supposed to win!"

"Yeah right, there's no way you won that much! You probably found the person who had the winning ticket and shook them down for it!"

"Even I can get a windfall every once in a while, ya know!"

"Dust, I thought you said that ticket was only worth 10,000 eris?"

"Shut up, Keith! Fine, bimbo priest, I'll let you off the hook if you pay for a meal and my fill of booze tonight instead! Since you did resurrect me that one time, I guess I can drop the price at least that much for you."

"Who're you calling a bimbo priest, you trash that gets caked onto the side of a dustbin?"

"Goddammit, wouldn't a normal person accept such a cheap discount when they were offered it after an originally steep price?"

"Not when the steep price is that outrageous in the first place."

"I told you to shut up, Keith!"

I don't know what the reason is they're fighting, but it sounds stupidly trivial. Should I step in? Or ignore it, since it doesn't concern me?

Let's go with the latter.

"Hey, newbie!"

Dang it, I hesitated for too long.

The delinquent blondie stood up as soon as he spotted me. "Didn't I see ya with Aqua earlier? Listen to this, she just cost me a fortune! That means you owe me too, ya see?"

I didn't see.

"Anyways, the name's Dust. I'm a well-known adventurer in this town, so you'd better remember me! Since you're new, I'll teach ya how things go around here: Give me 200,000 eris, or let's take things outside."

He got uncomfortably close to me, making me backpedal. Today's reward was only for 125,000 eris, and I had already spent part of it. If he was a well-known adventurer in this town, his level was probably a lot higher than mine, so I probably wouldn't be able to fight him either. Crap.

I glanced at the goddess, pleading for help with my eyes. She gave me back a look that said do your best!

I should not have expected to depend on her, that one's on me. Komekko was watching silently with her cheeks still stuffed, crumbs peppering her chin, her hands preoccupied with fried toad legs.

"Hey! Where do ya think you're looking? I'm your opponent now, so―kah!"

The blond man winced and put his hands on the back of his head, which had just been cordially introduced to the blunt end of someone else's magical staff.

"Rin! That hurt! Are you trying to give me brain damage?"

"What is there left in that empty head of yours to be damaged?"

A girl showed up behind him with an angry look on her face. I recognized her too from before, they must know each other quite well.

"I'm sorry for this idiot's actions. Please don't look down on the rest of the adventurers in this town because of him, rookie!"

"It's nothing," I said, holding up my hands and putting on a smile to show I was placated.

"Dust, you bow your head too!"

"Hey! Don't push me down like that, Rin! Not unless this is some new game where we get to grope each others' bodies―"

"Fireball!"

"Yeep! I'm sorry, I was kidding!"

Based on how deftly she controlled that fire magic, this girl looks like an experienced adventurer herself, and she seems to know how to handle this guy. Lucky she happened to be around, or who knows what could have happened.

"If Doofus ever bothers you again in the future, just come find me, and I'll take care of him! Come on, let's go!"

"Yow! Rin, I'll quit hazing the new guy, so stop pulling my ear already!"

Thanks to this girl, Dust, a name that suited this man very well, was finally backing away, giving me some relief.

"But you seem to have plenty of food to spare, so I think I don't mind if I do―"

As his final act, Dust reached down for some of the food on Komekko's plate. He was swiftly met by her fist, which delivered a rock-solid blow to his face. He was instantly knocked out cold.

I just stared.

The whites of Dust's eyes were clearly visible, even though he had to weigh twice as much as her, or more!

I was thinking this earlier, but where does that loli's physical strength come from? She eats like a horse too; now I can't help but wonder if she's hiding a monkey tail.

Dust's companions didn't even question Komekko's actions. They just shared a nod and dragged Dust away on the floor, each taking one of his arms. A second later, a little girl from another table who had long white hair and a distant look in her eyes scampered over to catch up to them.

Come to think of it, that table has a huge stack of empty plates too. Is there more than one loli who eats a lot and holds immense hidden magical power in this town?

I let out a deep breath. Turning to face my companions, I was about to ask what that was all about when the receptionist onee-san tapped me on the shoulder.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Um, I'm sorry to have to do this, since I saw the whole thing, and Dust deserved what he got. But rules are rules. Fighting is not allowed inside the guild."

…

Between the sheer volume of food eaten by Komekko and the fine I had to pay, all 125,000 of the eris we earned today were gone.

The pile of straw I managed to build for myself was just large enough to lay on.

Komekko had bid us goodnight and already left to wherever she planned to sleep. The goddess on the other hand…

"I don't want to have to sleep in the stables again, so I'll go spend the night in my comfy bed back in heaven. Goodnight, Satou!"

―Was what she said.

All my cash was gone, so getting a room at an inn was out of the question.

As I laid my head down on a poorly made straw bed in the corner of an unused horse stall, unable to even afford pajamas to change out of my school uniform―

I take back everything I thought earlier about how being in this world was fun.

Review responses:

Bruh logic - I get that I took some liberties with writing an older Komekko here, but that's not a "plot hole," it's an OOC issue! And Komekko literally said in the next line that he (Satou) didn't look like Kazuma! (Um, okay, more like three lines down, not literally the next line, but still!) Was the dialogue really that unclear? Is my grasp of the characters really that poor? I actually thought I was doing a pretty good job! Hey, am I really the one who doesn't understand how to write "Konosuba brand" arguments here?

A/N: Eh, it may be possible I'm actually woefully overconfident and my story is that bad, however unlikely that seems. I was planning to keep writing this story for as long as I enjoy doing so, or until I get to the first general of the Demon King's army's defeat, whichever is first. Obviously this story is riffing off Frieren and retracing the steps and the adventures of its respective world's original hero with a younger generation, so you ought to be able to guess the timing for the first general to appear. That's how far my ideas for this story currently extend.