When I opened my eyes, I was sitting in a chair at the center of what looked like an endless, space-like void.
There was no light source, yet everything was clearly visible. In front of me stood a large, pure white chair.
So this is the Heaven's Room. But where's Aqua? The story hasn't already started, has it?
Tap, tap
I heard footsteps approaching from behind the big white chair.
"Whoa~ what a superā¦ ahem, ahem, that's not itā¦"
"Welcome to the afterlife~ You died in an unfortunate accident just now."
Seeing Aqua again wasn't shocking since I'd met (tentative) Aqua already, but it still felt nice. Aqua slowly sat down on the pure white chair in front of me.
"Your life was short, but you're dead now."
I played along with the original story for now.
"I'mā¦ dead?"
"Yes. You couldn't endure the excessive workload at your black company and died at your desk in the office."
"Thā¦ I see."
It was a little awkward, but that was the setup, so I just listened.
Just then, Aqua stood up from the chair.
"My name is Aqua! I'm a goddess who guides young people who die in Japan."
"You have two choices."
"Start a new life from the beginning. Or go to a place like heaven and live an old-man lifestyle."
Aqua came closer to me, leaned in, and started speaking quietly.
"Actually, heaven isn't as amazing as you think. There's no TV, no manga, no games, and you don't even have a body, so you can't do anything edgy. You just bask in sunlight forever."
"You don't want to go to such a boring heaven, right?"
That's a lie. Aqua says that to boost her quota. In reality, it's a true heaven where the angels will grant you almost anything that isn't weird.
"Starting over as a baby from scratch is a bitā¦"
"So I have a great offer! You like isekai stories, don't you?"
Aqua suddenly struck a grand pose, like she was about to launch into an epic tale.
"That world's long-standing peace is being threatened by the Demon King's forces. The lives people built are being ravaged by monsters, and everyone lives in fear of the Demon Army's ruthless plunder and slaughter."
"Because of that, people refuse to be reborn there, so the population keeps shrinking. So the idea came up: 'How about we send dead people from other worlds over with their bodies and memories intact?'"
"But if we just send them, they'd die easily, soāspecial service~"
There it is! The reincarnation bonus! The biggest reason I chose KonoSuba.
"We're giving you the right to take one thingāa powerful weapon or an incredible talent."
"You can start your life over as a hero with your memories intact."
"How about it, not bad, right?"
Am I watching a home shopping channel? Why does this feel like they're trying to offload inventory with a clearance sale?
"....Sounds good. I'll go to the other world and act as a hero."
"Yesss~ quota! *Ahem*ā¦"
Aqua shouted 'quota' with a bright smile, then got embarrassed when she saw me and coughed awkwardly.
Then she spun around on the spot, and cards with abilities and weapons written on them flur-flur dropped to the floor.
"Now~ pick one~ I'll give you a power that won't lose to anyone."
I sat on the floor and looked through the cards one by one.
For abilities, there was Regeneration, Super Strength, Super Speed, Fast Growth, and more. For weapons, there was everything from Holy Swords to Demon Swords to Sage's Staffs. They were definitely cheat-level abilities and weapons.
I kept picking and choosing, torn between Super Strength, Super Speed, and the Legendary Bow.
If only I'd rolled better in the gacha, I wouldn't be worrying about this. I'm way too lacking in attack power.
"Hey, I like looking at a handsome face, but could you hurry up? Doesn't matter what you pick anyway. I've got a ton of dead people waiting to be processed."
Crack!
I was seriously thinking, and she's sitting there munching snacks and rushing me. I got pissed and a vein popped on my forehead.
Ahā¦ hold it in. If I lose my temper like Kazuma and choose Aqua, I'm screwed.
"I'll take Super Strength. And I'm currently poisonedācan you heal me? My bag is contaminated too, so please take care of it."
"Huh? You're supposed to arrive with a healthy body. That's weird. Did the angels make a mistake?"
Aqua assumed the angels messed up and cast Detox and Purify on me and the bag.
She's not suspicious at all. Is it lucky that Aqua's not smart?
"Then please be careful not to step outside the magic circle~"
A huge magic circle appeared beneath my feet.
"Now~ Hero! I sincerely hope that among all the hero candidates, you will be the one to defeat the Demon King."
"If you achieve that feat, the gods will grant you any one wish as a reward."
"Now, off you go on your journey~"
My body started to feel light, like I was being sucked somewhere. It got bright for a moment. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened themāand I'd arrived in a town I'd never seen before.
Looking around, I saw buildings you'd expect in medieval Europe. There were people in armor who looked like adventurers, people in robes carrying staffs, and occasionally people with elf ears or animal ears walking among the townsfolk.
"So this is the KonoSuba world. Looks like a medieval fantasy movie set."
Seeing kids running around the streets playing with toy swords, I could really feel that Axel, the town for beginner adventurers, was peaceful.
"Status Window."
[Park Tae-jin]
Strength: 4(+8) Stamina: 5 Agility: 2 Intelligence: 2 Mana: 352
Abilities Held
[(EX) Pleasure Life][(EX) Kill Steal][(SSS) Infinite Inventory][(S) Appraisal][(S) Super Strength][(A) Pain Tolerance][(A) Kilo Kilo Fruit][(B) Strong Mind]
Items Held
[A Enma]
Points Held
100
I clicked [S Super Strength].
[S Super Strength]
Your Strength stat is tripled.
I considered taking a weapon, but thinking about the future, raising Agility or Strength is better, so I took Super Strength.
I have 100 points, so let's enhance my body first.
I raised Strength to 10, and when I tried to hit 11, the points needed suddenly jumped from 1 to 10.
"Huh? Don't tell meā¦ the points needed increase with each digit place?"
For now, I also raised Stamina, Agility, and Intelligence to 10.
Ding~!
[Event: You are the first to raise all stats to two digits. Reward: 1000 points.]
"Oh~!"
I hurriedly checked the draws.
[Low-tier Random Draw 1 point]
[Mid-tier Random Draw 10 points]
[High-tier Random Draw 100 points]
[Top-tier Random Draw 1000 points]
I could do one Top-tier draw with 1000 points, but 1000 points could also massively boost my base stats. Those are precious points.
"..."
"Let's just give up and raise stats."
I shook my head after thinking for a bit. If I whiff again, I'll suffer for a long time, and I didn't have the courage to gamble.
Strength: 50(+100) Stamina: 40 Agility: 30 Intelligence: 20 Mana: 352
Points Held
73
Suddenly, I felt immense power surge through my body. Confidence welled upālike I could do anything now.
Fortunately, raising it to 21 didn't change the point cost. It seems the cost goes up per digit place: 10, 100, 1000, and so on.
"Nice~"
Then I took Enma out of the inventory.
"I need to try using thisā¦"
If it can consume mana instead of Haki, I might be able to use it, but I was scared I'd wither and die if I got it wrong, so I couldn't draw it.
Just then, maybe because of my higher Intelligence, a good idea popped into my head.
"Right! There's Aqua in this world! I can ask her for help."
Even if I die, Aqua can revive me. So I'll pay her a little and ask her to help me draw Enma.
When Kazuma and Aqua first arrive in Axel, they have no money and can't even register as adventurers, so they beg Eris worshippers for money. I can use that.