"Satou Kazuma-san, welco to the afterlife. Unfortunately, you've died. It might've been short, but your life's now over."
Soone suddenly spoke to in a pure white room.
The sudden turn of events confused .
In the room was an office desk and a chair, and the one who announced that my life was over sat on said chair.
If there was a goddess, she had to be it.
Her beauty was beyond the idols shown on television; she had a glamour that surpassed humans.
She had long, silky smooth blue hair.
She seed to be about my age.
She wasn't too busty nor too lacking, and had a light-purple hagoromo draped over her clothes.
The beauty blinked her eyes, which were the sa aqua-blue colour as her hair, and stared at as I tried to figure out what was going on.
… I thought about what had happened monts ago.
… I usually coop myself up at ho, so it was rare for to go outside.
To purchase a limited first-release version of a popular online ga, I got up early to queue up.
Society addressed people like as a 'hikikomori'.
After buying the ga, it was ti to return ho to play to my heart's content. I was in a great mood as I anticipated this while walking ho,, but at that mont…
A girl was looking down on her cell phone and walking before .
From her uniform, she would've been studying at the sa school as .
After seeing the lights turn green, the girl didn't check traffic and crossed the road imdiately.
A large shadow lood toward her.
It had to have been a large truck heading toward her at high speed.
When I ca to my senses, I'd knocked the girl away.
After that…
… Mysteriously calm, I asked the beauty before :
"… May I ask one thing?"
The beauty nodded in response to my question.
"Please, go ahead."
"… The girl that was knocked away by , is she still alive?"
That was the most important thing.
That was the first and last ti I'd done sothing worthwhile.
If I hadn't managed to save her in ti despite betting my life, that would've been frustrating.
"She lives! But she fractured her leg."
Thank goodness.
--------------------------------->
I didn't die in vain; I did sothing good at the very end.
Seeing acting relieved, the beauty tilted her head and said:
"But, she wouldn't have been hurt if you hadn't knocked her away."
"… Huh?"
What'd she say?
"The tractor would've stopped before hitting the girl. I an, it was just a slow tractor after all. That ans that your unnecessary ddling by acting like a hero made things worse… Puhehe!"
What's with this? This was the first ti I t this girl.
It might've been rude, but I felt like beating her up.
… Wait, hold it. I thought I heard sothing more important just nowthat was .
"… What'd you say? A tractor? Not a truck?"
"That's right, a tractor. If a truck had been speeding toward that girl, she would've noticed it and gotten away."
… Huh?
"Eh, but what about ? Did I die after getting hit by the tractor?"
"No, you died from shock. You thought you were ran over by a truck and went into shock. I've been doing this for a long ti, but you're the first to die in such a hilarious way!"
"..."
"Because of your close call with the tractor, you lost consciousness and control of your bowels, and you were sent to a nearby hospital. As the doctors and nurses were laughing and saying, 'What's with this guy, how useless–', you didn't regain consciousness and your heart failed."
"Shut up–! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear sothing so humiliating!"
The girl walked to my side as I cupped my ears and smiled deviously, leaning close to my ears.
"Your family reached the hospital, but before they could feel the sadness from their loss, they couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing your cause of death."
"Shut up, shut up! This can't be real! How can there be such a useless way to die? This is unbelievable!"
Looking down at squatting with my head in my arms, the girl covered her mouth and laughed.
"… Well, that ends my de-stressing session. This is our first eting, Satou Kazuma-san. My na's Aqua. I'm a goddess that guides young people who die in Japan. Now, putting aside how funny your demise was, you now have two options."
… This girl!
Forget it, being worked up would just delay the progress of the conversation; I just need to bear with it.
"The first option would be reincarnating and beginning a new life; the other option would be staying in a place sort of like heaven and living the life of a retirent ho."
What a lazy way to describe the options.
"Eh, well, how's the place that's sort of like heaven? More importantly, what do you an by 'retirent ho'?"
"Heaven isn't as great as you humans would imagine. You don't need to eat after dying and won't be able to make any food naturally; there aren't any ingredients nor necessities for you to use anyway. I'm sorry if I disappointed you, but there's nothing in heaven. No television, no manga and no gas. Only other people that've died before you. Moreover, since you're dead, you can't do anything kinky. You can't since you don't even have a body. The only thing you can do is bask in the sun with your predecessors and chat. Forever."
No computer gas and no entertainnt? Rather than heaven, that'd be closer to hell.
However, to beco a baby and restart my life…
No, that was the only option.
Looking at my disappointed face, the goddess smiled and said:
"Hey… You don't want to go to a boring place like heaven, right? However, asking you to let go of all of your mories and start again as a baby's the sa as erasing your existence, since your mories will be gone. And so, I've great news for you!"
For so reason I was skeptical.
Aqua said to the wary with a smile,
"Do you like gas?"
Aqua confidently explained her so-called good news.
This was the gist of it:
In a world different from where I was, there was another world with a Demon King.
In addition, with the attack of the Demon King's army, that world fell into crisis.
There were magic and monsters in that world.
To put it simply, it was a fantasy world like the famous gas Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
"The people who died in that world were killed by the Demon King's army and were very afraid, saying that they didn't want to die like that again. Therefore, almost all of the people who died rejected reincarnating in that world again. More specifically, that world will end if this continues since babies will cease to be born there. Hence, we'll solve that problem by sending the dead from other worlds over, right? That's how it is."
What a sloppy immigration policy.
"And since we're sending people over, we should find people that've died young and still yearn to live and send them over with their original body and mories. It'll be aningless if they were to die imdiately after going over, so we'll grant a privilege to all of those going to that world, allowing them to take one thing they like. It may be a powerful ability, an exceptional talent or a god-level weapon. What do you think? It might be another world, but you can live once more. For the people of that world, soone will appear who can fight imdiately. How about it? Isn't this great news?"
I see, it did sound great.
To be honest, this made excited.
I knew I liked gas, but I never would've imagined that I'd be able to enter a world that was just like my favourite computer gas.
However, before that.
"Um, I have a question, what about the language? Will I be able to speak the language of the other world?"
"This isn't a problem. With the gentle aid of the gods, knowledge of the language will be bead directly into your brain the mont you head over to the other world. You'll even be able to read! As a side effect, your brain might be wiped blank if you're unlucky… Anyway, all that's left is to choose a powerful ability or weapon."
"Hold on, I heard sothing important just now. Did you say my brain might be wiped blank if I'm unlucky?"
"I didn't say that."
"You did."
The tension from earlier was gone. I was speaking to a goddess, but my attitude was akin to speaking to an equal.
… Nevertheless, that was an attractive proposition.
It was scary to know that there's a chance in wiping my brain blank, but I'm not bragging when I say that I've been confident in my luck ever since I was young.
At this mont, Aqua showed sothing like a catalogue.
"Please choose. I may grant you one and only one power. It may be a powerful unique ability, or perhaps a legendary weapon. Co, it can be anything. You have the privilege to bring this one thing to the other world."
After hearing Aqua's explanation, I took the catalogue and started browsing it.
… On it was, 'Unnatural Strength,' 'Super Magic,' 'Holy Sword Arondight,' 'Demon Sword Murasa,' and all sorts of nas.
I got it; choose an ability or weapon to bring along.
How troubling, having too many choices is making indecisive.
Or rather, my gar instincts told that these were cheat-like abilities and equipnt.
How troubling, how troubling… Since I'd be going to a world with magic, I really wanted to try using magic.
Hence, I should choose an ability based on magic…
"Hey, hurry up. It doesn't matter which one you choose, nobody's expecting much of a hikikomori gaming otaku. Can you just pick one and be on your way? Anything will do. Hurry up, hurry up…"
Aqua, eaten by the frog, had one spasming leg dangling out of its mouth.
I drew my short sword and charged at the frog!
"Sob… Ugh, ugh– WAHHH…!"
Covered in sticky frog fluid, Aqua was hugging her knees while sitting on the ground before , sobbing.
Beside her was the frog, its head smashed in.
"Ugh… Sob… Thank, thank you… Kazuma, thank you…! WAHHH…!"
Aqua had been crying non-stop ever since I dragged her out of the frog's mouth.
Even a goddess couldn't stand the horror of being prey.
"Are… Are you okay, Aqua? Be strong… Let's go back for today. The quest we took on was exterminating five frogs in three days, but they weren't opponents we could handle. Let's try again when we've got better equipnt. Look, I only have a short sword, no armor, and I'm still wearing my tracksuit. Let's co back when we're dressed more like adventurers."
To be honest, a novice like only defeated the frog because it stopped moving as it tried to swallow Aqua.
If the frog had attacked without hesitation, I wouldn't have had the courage to face it.
Aqua stood up with the glossy fluid all over her body.
"Ugh… For a goddess like to be humiliated by a frog; how can we retreat? I'm already defiled. If a believer sees how dirty I am… Their faith will most certainly plumt! If people knew that I ran from frogs, it'd be a disgrace to the na of the beautiful Goddess Aqua!"
You didn't have worry about that. You carried several tis more construction materials at the work site than the n did, whilst looking happy working. Your greatest joy was eating dinner after taking a bath; you were sleeping so soundly that you even drooled while sleeping in the stables beside . After seeing the way you conduct yourself, being covered in goo isn't too much.
However, before I could stop her, Aqua charged toward another frog in the distance.
"Ah! Hey, hold up, Aqua!"
Aqua ignored my voice, drawing closer to the frog and using her montum to throw a punch at its belly.
"Feel the wrath of a goddess! You dare to oppose a goddess!? Repent in hell! God Blow!"
I rembered the staff mber in the guild telling that physical attacks weren't effective against giant frogs.
Her fist sunk into the soft abdon, while the frog seed unaffected…
Aqua ekly looked the frog in the eye and said softly:
"… Looking closely… frogs are actually quite cute, right?"
… I defeated a second giant frog that stopped moving as it attempted to swallow its prey. The adventure for today ended with bringing a wailing goddess covered in sli back to town.
"I get it. Just us two isn't enough, so let's recruit more mbers!"
After returning to town, the first thing we did was head to the bathhouse to wash up. We then ate fried frog at in the adventurer's guild and discussed our plans.
Apart from being a eting place for adventurers, the adventurer's guild also doubled as a bar. It allowed adventurers to sell the monsters they hunted, and serving tasty monsters was also a bit of a selling point for them.
We sold the at of the two frogs we hunted to the guild and earned so allowance in the process.
The frog was too big for the two of us to carry, but, if you turned in a request to the guild, they'd provide delivery service, transporting the monster you defeated.
Selling one frog and deducting the transport fee earned us 5,000 eris.
The earnings were about the sa as doing construction work.
However, the slightly tough fried frog at was unexpectedly tasty, which surprised .
When I first ca to this world, I was a bit hesitant about eating lizards and frogs.
However, after having one prepared and served to , I found it to be delicious.
Of course, the goddess before ate anything without hesitation.
"But… Even if we want to recruit comrades, do you think anyone would want to team up with novices like us who don't even have proper equipnt?"
With a mouthful of frog at, Aqua waved the fork in her hand.
"Wiff mi hare, I juice node…"
"Swallow. Swallow before you speak."
After Aqua swallowed, she said:
"With here, I just need to holler and people will line up to join us. I'm an Archpriest after all, a top-tier job! I can use all sorts of healing spells and support magic, and I can relieve poison and paralysis statuses. I can even perform resurrection, a talent any team would want. I might've fallen into the mortal world, causing my powers to be far from my peak, but I'm still a goddess… Ahem! I'm Aqua-sama after all! I just need to put up a notice and a bunch of people begging to 'bring along on quests' will show up! If you understand, then give another piece of fried frog at!"
After finishing, the self-proclaid goddess grabbed a piece of fried frog at from my plate as I watched her with worried eyes.
– The next day, at the adventurer's guild.
"… No one's coming…"
Aqua dejectedly mumbled to herself.
After displaying a recruitnt notice, we sat at a table inside the adventurer's guild and waited for companions to show up. It had been half a day.
The other adventurers saw our notice.
Besides us, several adventurers were recruiting mbers; they conducted interviews, talked with them and went off.
I knew very well why no one was coming.
"… Hey, let's lower our standard. Our goal's to defeat the Demon King, so such conditions were necessary… However, 'only recruiting top-tier jobs' is a bit too gruelling."
"Ugh… But…"
In this world, adventurer jobs were divided into tiers, with so of them being top tier jobs.
Aqua's Archpriest was one of those top-tier jobs.
It was difficult for normal people to qualify for this job. She could very well be a hero candidate.
Moreover, it was normal for such hero candidates to enjoy a privileged life in other teams…
Aqua probably wanted to recruit powerful companions to take down the Demon King.
However…
"If this goes on, no one will apply! You might have a top-tier job, but mine's the weakest. I'll lose my place if elites suddenly surround . How about lowering the entry requirents…?"
As I was preparing to stand up…
"I saw the notice recruiting adventurers with top-tiers jobs. Are you the ones who posted it?"
She regarded us with red, sleepy eyes.
Her smooth black hair reached her shoulders.
For us, she was a girl in classic witch attire with a black cloak, dark boots, pointy hat and a staff.
Her features were delicate like a porcelain doll–it was a loli.
It wasn't surprising for children to work in this world…
The small, frail girl who looked to be about 12-13 had an eyepatch covering one eye. She flung aside her cloak hard and said:
"My na is gumin! My calling is that of an Archwizard, and one who controls the strongest offensive magic, Explosion…!"
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"…Are you here to tease us?"
"I-I'm not!"
I couldn't help retorting at the self-introduction of this girl as she denied in a panic.
Moreover, what was with the na gumin?
"That red eye, are you a Crimson Demon?"
The girl nodded in response to Aqua's query and presented her adventurer's card to Aqua.
"That's correct! I'm an elite mage from the Crimson Demon Clan, gumin! My magic's powerful enough to split the mountains…! … That's how it is. Do you need an excellent mage? … By the way, I've a favour to ask. I haven't eaten in three days; may you give sothing to eat before the interview…?"
gumin looked at us with sorrowful eyes.
The heartbreaking 'ugu' sound ca from gumin's stomach region.
"… I'm fine with treating you to a al, but why are you wearing an eyepatch? If you're injured, do you need this girl to heal you?"
"Humph… This is a magic item to restrain my overwhelming power… If you pull it off, a gigantic disaster will befall the world…
"Oh… So it's sothing like a seal?"
"I made that up. This is just a normal eyepatch. It just looks nice… Ah, sorry… Please don't pull on that, stop!"
"Eh… Listen Kazuma, Crimson Demons are born with high intellect and strong magic power, with most of them having the potential to beco powerful mages. They're well known for their red eyes and their strange nas."
Aqua explained as I pulled on gumin's eyepatch.
… I understood. Just listening to her na and seeing that eyepatch, I thought she was teasing .
I released the eyepatch and she said sternly:
"It's rude to say that our nas are weird. From where I stand, the nas of the people in this town are the weird ones."
"… Right, may I ask for your parents' nas?"
"My mother's Yuiyui, and my father's Hyoizaburo."
"…"
Aqua and I were silent.
"… Anyway, this girl's race produces many powerful mages, right? Could we recruit her as a companion?"
"Hey, if you've got a problem with the nas of my parents, say it to my face!"
As gumin leaned forward, Aqua returned the adventurer's card to her.
"It should be fine, right? The adventurer's card is real; she has a top-tier job with the ability to use powerful spells–Archwizard. The magic stat on the card's very high, so she has a lot of potential. If she really can use explosion magic, that would be amazing! The explosion spell's the highest-tier spell of the detonation-series magic and is hard to learn."
"Hey! Stop addressing as she, use my na!"
As gumin protested, I handed the food nu to her.
"Don't mind the details, order sothing to eat. My na's Kazuma, and this is Aqua. Pleased to et you, Archwizard."
gumin seed like she had sothing to say, but in the end she just took the nu quietly.
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