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Just like that, four new residents moved into Fang Li's mansion, each one shackled by crushing debt, their situations barely a step above signing a magical servitude contract. In essence, they had become free labor.
That might sound bleak, but for Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness, moving into Fang Li's home could only be seen as a stroke of divine favor, right?
At the very least, the debt collectors were no longer knocking at their door. Even though they were expected to clean the mansion daily, such chores felt more like an obligation than a burden, especially for freeloaders.
Meanwhile, Fang Li ensured they received three full meals a day, each infused with rare ingredients brimming with experience-boosting effects. As a result, the party's levels began to rise steadily.
It wasn't long before both Kazuma and Aqua had ascended to Level 10.
Under these conditions, Kazuma finally began acquiring skills.
Though his base stats were painfully low, he was nothing if not resourceful. While the Adventurer class lacked specialization bonuses and its skills had weaker individual effects compared to focused classes, Kazuma knew how to make them work together. His clever combinations turned mediocrity into utility.
From Fang Li, Kazuma learned One-Handed Sword, Enemy Detection, and Hide. He also made connections at the Adventurers' Guild, exchanging favors and knowledge to pick up Bow, Snipe, and Clairvoyance.
Bow: Enhances proficiency with bows and arrows.
Snipe: Grants precision targeting with a bow. The higher the user's Luck stat, the greater the accuracy.
Clairvoyance: Enables vision over great distances and provides night vision.
All three were archer-class abilities.
For someone like Kazuma, someone who clung to life and feared death, it was unthinkable to charge the front lines with a sword. Naturally, he preferred staying at the rear, drawing his bow and firing off opportunistic shots from the shadows.
Moreover, Kazuma's Luck stat was unusually high, giving him a major edge with skills like Snipe. This naturally led him to build out a full arsenal of archer abilities.
With two skill points left, Kazuma invested them into two more abilities from different classes.
The first was a Thief skill:
Steal: Randomly steals an item from a target. The success rate scales with the user's Luck.
Interestingly, this skill was also available on Fang Li's learnable list. However, it required mana to activate, and Fang Li hadn't yet invested in expanding his Magic Power, so he skipped it.
The second was a Mage skill:
Basic Magic: Grants access to low-tier elemental spells such as wind, water, fire, and earth.
This skill only required a single point, and the reason was obvious, Basic Magic had almost no offensive power. It was what people in the guild called a "featherweight skill", too weak to be practical in combat.
Most aspiring mages would rather save their points than squander them here.
But Kazuma's mana reserves were already pitifully low and had to be spread across multiple disciplines. If he attempted to learn Intermediate Magic, he probably wouldn't even have enough mana to cast a single spell.
Thus, Basic Magic was his only viable option.
And that was Kazuma's current state.
At the very least, he was finally starting to contribute.
As for Aqua, though she had also leveled up, she had already maxed out all her Arch Priest skills. With excess skill points and nothing critical to spend them on, she began learning miscellaneous party abilities like Banquet Tricks. In short, leveling up didn't change much for this self-proclaimed goddess.
No, actually, to be precise, ranking up had changed absolutely nothing for her.
Normally, even without learning new skills, leveling up would still increase an Adventurer's base parameters.
Take Kazuma, for instance. His stats had improved noticeably after leveling up.
But Aqua? Her parameters remained exactly the same.
Because no matter how you looked at it, Aqua was a bona fide goddess.
And gods, by their very nature, are born perfect.
Her stats had already hit their absolute cap from the beginning. There was simply no room for further growth.
No amount of leveling would make Aqua any stronger.
Not even in terms of intelligence…
Meanwhile, both Megumin and Darkness had also leveled up substantially.
Yet, these two troublemakers resolutely refused to learn any skills they didn't find interesting.
One of them dumped all her points into "Explosion Magic Amplification" and "Rapid Chanting," flat-out rejecting any standard spells.
The other poured everything into "Physical Resistance," "Magic Resistance," and a range of "Status Ailment Resistances." Her only utility skill was "Decoy," which attracted enemies to her, but she absolutely refused to learn any offensive techniques.
"These morons are seriously min-maxing themselves into defective builds."
That was the brutally honest tsukkomi from the only member progressing like a normal human being, Kazuma, after evaluating the three top-tier classes around him.
Fang Li, however, didn't seem to mind.
Sure, they were clearly problem cases, but in the right situations, each of them could become devastatingly effective.
If they didn't have at least some redeeming qualities, Fang Li would've abandoned the Side Quests long ago, cut his losses, and walked away without a shred of guilt.
Assuming, of course, the three of them didn't drag him into some catastrophe first.
In fact, just to keep them from spiraling into chaos, Fang Li had seriously considered binding them with magically enforced servitude contracts.
And so, time went on.
On this particular day, Fang Li received a notice from the Adventurers' Guild, a formal summons.
The sender was Luna.
"Fang Li San, the Guild has identified the cause behind the recent monster anomalies."
Seated behind the reception counter, Luna looked visibly tense as she delivered the news.
"The irregular behavior is the result of a commander from the Demon King's army arriving in this region."
Fang Li's gaze sharpened in an instant.
"A commander of the Demon King's forces?!"
Kazuma, Megumin, and Darkness all sucked in a sharp breath.
"You've gotta be kidding," Aqua said with a scowl, folding her arms. "Why would someone that high up show up near a beginner-level town like this? Are you seriously not just making up a story to avoid paying out beginner bounties?"
"This intel has been confirmed," Luna replied immediately. "The presence of this commander is disturbing the surrounding mana fields. Monsters have fled the deeper forest and driven out the weaker ones near the town. Right now, only high-threat missions remain, and most Adventurers can't take them on."
Indeed, at this time of year, the Guild should've been bustling with activity.
But today, the Adventurers' Guild was a ghost of its usual self, Adventurers milled about, drinking, grumbling, and wasting daylight.
"Hey, hey, hey! So what now?" Kazuma cried. "Forget why that guy's even here, if he doesn't leave, we're out of work entirely, aren't we?"
"The Guild has already requested reinforcements from the Royal Capital," Luna replied, shaking her head slightly. "Knights and elite Adventurer squads are expected to arrive soon to deal with the situation. Until then, we ask everyone to be patient."
Her weary words caused everyone present to glance nervously at one another.
Only Fang Li looked at Luna and spoke with piercing clarity:
"Have you confirmed the commander's exact location?"
Luna's expression froze.
After a moment's hesitation, she gave a slow nod and disclosed the precise coordinates.
(End of Chapter)