Chapter 8 8: 8 KonoSuba 4

I sipped my Shuwa-Shuwa and decided to wait until Kazuma and Aqua found out they had no money at the reception desk.

If I walked up right away and offered money, the value of my help would drop a lot.

Things started unfolding just like in the original.

The tsundere uncle gave them directions, and Kazuma's group headed to the reception desk.

Satou Kazuma looked exactly as expected—dark brown hair, green tracksuit, just an ordinary-looking teenager.

"Aqua, today we're doing guild registration and securing a place to stay."

"Got it. I don't know much about games, but that's common sense in this world, right?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"This is why you had no girlfriend or friends and were a shut-in otaku. Why did you waste every day cooped up being a NEET?"

Aqua asked curiously, and Kazuma looked like he'd been hit where it hurt. He had a deeply offended expression.

"Stop calling me a NEET! Don't mash shut-in and NEET together into Kusohikikomori!"

Kazuma reacted sensitively because, as a kid, he'd promised to marry his childhood friend—a girl he was really close with.

But in middle school, she started dating a delinquent guy, and the emotional shock made him escape into games. That's why he couldn't even attend school properly.

Kazuma's group arrived at the guild receptionist, Luna.

"...Welcome~ What can I help you with today?"

"Um, we want to become adventurers."

"I see. Then there's a registration fee to start."

"Huh, huh??? Registration fee?"

Kazuma panicked and looked at Aqua.

"Do you have money?"

"How would I have money when I got dragged here out of nowhere?"

"Ahem... We'll come back later."

Kazuma's group quietly left the desk and sat at the table in front of me.

"What do we do? We hit a wall right away. Normally you get at least some starter gear or living expenses..."

"So unkind!"

Kazuma must have played too many games.

"Suddenly you don't seem reliable anymore. Well, what can you expect from a shut-in NEET."

"Stop with the NEET."

Just then, I stood up and spoke to Kazuma's group.

"Hey, Aqua."

"Huh? You're that handsome guy from earlier?"

"You forgot my name already?"

"Ahaha, I've sent off so many people, I can't help forgetting sometimes?"

With Aqua acting cute, I wondered if she had an iron plate for a face.

"Who's this handsome guy?"

Kazuma looked at my face and asked Aqua.

"You know, the one we sent here before you and me came."

"Nice to meet you. I'm also someone summoned to this world. I'm Park Tae-jin. Just call me Tae-jin."

"Hello. I'm Satou Kazuma. Nice to meet you. But Park Tae-jin… are you Korean?"

I told them the backstory I'd made up while eating the toad fries.

"Well, I'm half American, half Korean. I came to Japan for work, but I got stuck in a black company and worked to death. Overwork killed me. Hahaha."

"Ew... As a Japanese person, sorry about that."

Kazuma looked apologetic without any suspicion, avoided eye contact, and scratched his head.

"It's fine, you're not the black company."

"Anyway, you guys must be hungry, right? Let's eat something. My treat."

I ordered two Giant Toad fries, a salad, and three Shuwa-Shuwas.

"Thanks. But how did you get money when you came here similar to us?"

"I sold the clothes I brought. Luckily, modern clothes are made of materials they can't make here, so they bought them for a good price."

"Hee~ More reliable than a shut-in NEET?"

Kazuma heard 'shut-in NEET' again and got mad, grabbing Aqua's cheeks and pulling them.

"Uheheeng~~~~~"

While Kazuma and Aqua were bickering, the food we ordered arrived.

"Wow~ this is good."

Kazuma and Aqua started eating the toad fries deliciously.

That's when I said one thing.

"That's frog fry."

"Wh... what???"

Aqua just kept eating, but Kazuma, who was enjoying it, suddenly went pale and dropped the toad fry he was holding onto the plate.

"Don't worry too much, it's not inedible. I saw it on the way here—sweetfish grows in the fields in this world, so you'll have to get used to the food."

At my words, Kazuma glanced at the toad fry once, then started eating only salad.

"Kazuma, Kazuma, if you're not eating that, give it to me."

Aqua quickly picked up the toad fry Kazuma dropped and started eating it.

As expected, she's a goddess with a huge appetite.

I didn't eat and just drank Shuwa-Shuwa, so Aqua asked with puffed cheeks.

"Aren't you eating, Tae-jin?"

"Swallow first. Anyway, I ate before you guys got here."

"Ah, right! I heard earlier—you said you don't have the guild registration fee? I'll lend it to you."

I handed Kazuma 2,000 eris.

"Oh~ thanks."

Kazuma and Aqua finished eating and went back to receptionist Luna to register.

After a similar process to mine, Luna looked at the card and spoke.

"Satou Kazuma, right? Let's see..."

Kazuma had a very expectant look.

"Everything is average. Your Intelligence is decent at best... your Luck is abnormally, extremely high. Luck isn't very useful for an adventurer, but with this much luck, I'd recommend Merchant."

Kazuma's expression turned to one like he'd bitten crap, and Aqua, who was watching from behind, started laughing while covering her mouth.

"Hey, my adventurer life got denied out of nowhere."

Kazuma sighed like he couldn't help it and spoke to Luna.

"U-um, please make me the basic class, Adventurer."

"...Don't be too disappointed. You can change classes when you level up."

Luna spoke encouragingly to the disappointed Kazuma.

"R-right?"

Next, Aqua started registering.

"Wow~ Except for Intelligence being below average and Luck being the lowest level, all your other stats far exceed the average!"

Luna looked at Aqua's card and spoke again in surprise.

"What? What? Are you saying I'm amazing?"

"What day is it today? Two people with incredible stats coming in, this is really surprising."

Kazuma asked curiously.

"Two people?"

"One is Tae-jin over there."

Kazuma and Aqua looked at me, and I smiled and waved my hand.

"Anyway, you can't take magic-type classes that require Intelligence, but other than that you can choose any class. Crusader, Sword Master, Arch Priest—most advanced classes from the start."

Aqua struck a pose like she was showing off.

"Well~ It's a shame there's no Goddess class, but for me, it'd be Arch Priest who heals allies, I guess?"

"Arch Priest! You can freely use all kinds of recovery magic and support magic, and you're powerful enough to fight on the front lines—an all-around class."

Wooooooah~~~~

Suddenly the area got noisy. Other adventurers and staff watching started cheering because an advanced class appeared.

"Then welcome to the Adventurer's Guild, Aqua. I look forward to your future achievements."

Then many people congratulated or marveled at Aqua.

"An Arch Priest all of a sudden, that's amazing~"

"Someone like you might actually defeat the Demon King!"

"Congratulations~"

Aqua got embarrassed and waved back. I guess I didn't get this event because I just picked the basic Adventurer class.

We received congratulations and left the guild. Kazuma spoke like he was frustrated.

"Ugh... events like this should happen to me, shouldn't they?"

I asked Kazuma, pretending not to know even though I did.

"By the way, Kazuma, what did you get as your bonus that you couldn't get an advanced class?"

Then Kazuma looked dejected, lowered his head, and silently pointed at Aqua with his finger.

"So Aqua didn't just descend from heaven—she came as your bonus?"

Then Aqua glared at Kazuma and said.

"That's right! Talk about a nuisance, this is peak nuisance."

At that, Kazuma flared up and started pulling Aqua's cheeks again.

"What are you saying! You came as a bonus and can't do anything, you useless goddess! Don't get cocky just because you got an advanced class!"

"Ubehe~~~~"

I stopped them for now.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. We need to think about what to do next. First, our outfits stand out too much, so let's buy clothes."

We asked people around, bought one set of casual clothes each at a clothing store, and got lodging. Of course, I paid for everything.