Axel — Adventurers' Guild
Just like any other day, the guild hall was as loud and chaotic as ever, packed with adventurers shouting over one another.
What was different today, however, was the arrival of yet another pair of new faces here to register as adventurers.
And the reason people thought, "again?" was simple: Axel sat out on the frontier, a pleasant enough place to retire and live out one's days in peace. But for most people who dreamed of becoming adventurers, it was absolutely not an attractive starting point.
There was no deeper reason than this—the adventurers here were far too laid-back, almost terminally lazy. The ambitious rookies, full of dreams about slaying the Demon King, believed that if they spent too much time around this crowd, their resolve would be ground down into dust.
Because of that, even when newcomers decided to take up the adventurer's path, very few chose Axel as their first stop.
The duo who entered the guild today consisted of a young man and a young woman.
The man was an ordinary-looking boy dressed in a tracksuit, the kind you could find anywhere. The girl beside him, on the other hand, was a breathtaking beauty with long, water-blue hair, flawless features, and a figure that left little to be desired.
When such an odd pairing walked into the Adventurers' Guild together, it was only natural that they attracted attention.
And thanks to a certain incident from a month ago, the adventurers of Axel were far more cautious than usual. Seeing that the boy's outfit vaguely resembled the bizarre clothing worn by a certain adventurer back then, they immediately dropped their initial contempt.
Could he be another powerhouse disguised as a rookie?
With that thought in mind, many of them craned their necks, watching closely as the pair approached the reception counter and began speaking with Luna.
"Wait—what?! Registering as an adventurer costs money?!Isn't this supposed to be a game-like world where you at least get a beginner's starter pack?You're telling me I don't even get a starter sword, and I have to pay just to register?!"
The boy, Satō Kazuma, had once been a perfectly ordinary high school student. After dying in a freak accident brought on by an act of misguided heroism, he'd been granted a divine blessing: the chance to start over in another world, complete with a special cheat ability.
Thinking himself clever, Kazuma chose to bring along the goddess who greeted him—convinced that having a literal goddess at his side would make conquering another world a breeze, leading him straight to the peak of life.
What he never expected, however, was that this goddess—Aqua—would turn out to be even more useless than he was.
After a long bout of mutual accusations and heated insults, the two had finally arrived at the Adventurers' Guild… only to be informed by the busty receptionist in front of them that registering still required a processing fee.
"Aqua, isn't this world's system way too cruel?We're not even adventurers yet, and we literally just got here—how are we supposed to have money?And aren't you a goddess? If you can grant wishes, then making a little cash should be easy, right?"
Ever since choosing Aqua as his cheat and dragging her along into this world, Kazuma had been drowning in regret.
The goddess named Aqua was nothing like what he had imagined. Not only was she spectacularly incompetent, her intelligence was… a serious problem. Aside from being pretty enough to serve as eye candy, she was practically useless.
No—calling her eye candy was still too generous. At least decorative objects didn't actively cause trouble. Aqua absolutely did.
"How would I have any money?!The moment you, you shut-in, dragged me into this world, I lost my powers as a guiding goddess!I can't grant wishes anymore!If I still could, I'd have gone back already—why would I stay stuck with a useless guy like you?!"
Aqua, the blue-haired girl who was completely broke, somehow managed to radiate absolute confidence as she spoke.
Having been dragged into this mess against her will, she'd resigned herself to reality. Since the rules couldn't be broken, the fastest solution was to help this useless Kazuma become a hero, defeat the Demon King, and finally let her return to her blissful life of slacking off.
After all, a goddess didn't need to carry money. And Aqua firmly believed that as long as she showed her face, mere mortals of the lower realm would fall over themselves to worship her.
Thus, with supreme confidence, she began strutting back and forth in front of Luna, desperately trying to draw attention—hoping the receptionist would recognize who she really was.
Meanwhile, the so-called "older unmarried woman" behind the counter already had a row of black lines forming across her forehead.
Luna had initially thought these two newcomers might be special—after all, one was stunningly beautiful, and the other dressed oddly, much like Ren Kuroda had a month ago.
But after observing Aqua and Kazuma's behavior and listening to their conversation, Luna felt nothing but exhaustion. In her heart, she was already certain these two couldn't possibly be from the same place as that individual.
"I'm very sorry, but registering as an adventurer requires a processing fee. This is a rule of the Adventurers' Guild.If the two of you are short on funds, perhaps you could ask family or friends for help. Otherwise, registration simply isn't possible."
Despite their strange behavior, Luna maintained her impeccable professionalism, smiling politely as she explained.
"You seriously don't recognize me?! I'm Aqua—the goddess of water!You're asking a goddess for money, you know! You'll be punished by divine retribution—divine retribution!"
After failing to get any reaction from Luna despite all her dramatic posing, Aqua finally declared her identity outright.
She planted her hands on her hips, chin raised proudly, fully expecting gasps of awe—
Only to find Luna staring back at her calmly, sighing in exasperation.
"Miss, I don't know whether your name really is Aqua or not, but please don't joke about being a goddess.Especially not that goddess. The Axis Cult is full of lunatics—being targeted by them is no joke."
"And besides, I don't worship Aqua, nor am I part of the Axis Cult.Even if you were her most devout follower, the fee still applies."
Clearly, Luna didn't believe her in the slightest. There was no way a real goddess would be standing here causing trouble.
At this point, Luna's opinion of Kazuma and Aqua had plummeted. She'd already categorized them as the type who tried to scam free meals wherever they went.
"You jerk! How dare you not believe me—and insult my Axis Cult by calling them lunatics!You awful, big-chested woman! You'll be punished by divine retribution—by the most beautiful goddess Aqua herself!"
Even as Aqua ranted furiously, Luna remained unfazed. She was now completely convinced Aqua was an Axis Cult fanatic—and likely a particularly extreme one.
And when it came to members of the Axis Cult, no matter how bizarre their behavior, Luna had long since stopped being surprised.
Beside them, Kazuma let out a helpless sigh.
He had thought he'd discovered a game-breaking cheat, chosen the strongest possible support… only to end up with a useless goddess who could do nothing but complain and brag.
If he couldn't rely on her, then he'd have to rely on himself.
Kazuma could feel it—some tremendous power sleeping within him, befitting a hero summoned to another world. And yet, here he was, unable to awaken it because of a trivial registration fee!
He was confident in his own potential. In stories like these, heroes either had absurdly powerful skills or uniquely rare classes.
All he needed was to become an adventurer—and his legendary journey would finally begin.
Even dragging along a useless goddess, Kazuma believed he could still defeat the Demon King and save the world.
"Luna, I've completed this request. These are the monster drops—please process the rewards for me."
Just as Kazuma was lost in fantasies of his glorious future, a figure appeared beside them without warning, placing a large bundle onto the counter.
"Welcome back, Ren Kuroda. I didn't expect you to take down a One-Hit Bear so easily. At this point, there really aren't any monsters around Axel that pose a threat to you anymore."
The moment she saw Ren Kuroda, Luna immediately ended her argument with Aqua. Her expression lit up as she warmly accepted the drops and began carefully counting them—her attitude a complete reversal from how she'd treated Kazuma and Aqua moments earlier.
Ren Kuroda had been in this world for nearly a month now. The system's world quest still hadn't triggered, and he was confident this wasn't a series he clearly remembered—if it was something he'd seen at all.
Unlike when he'd first arrived as a complete rookie, most people had initially been waiting to see him make a fool of himself after choosing the much-maligned Magic Sword Guide class.
Instead, the outcome shocked everyone.
The moment Ren became an adventurer, he ignored Luna's attempts to stop him and accepted a monster subjugation request.
People expected him to fail miserably.
Yet he returned not long after—casually presenting proof that he'd slain ten Giant Toads.
Before anyone could recover, he immediately accepted another quest to drive off Short-Tailed Crocs and rushed out again.
In just one month, Ren had hunted monsters ranging from the weakest Giant Toads, to Shadow Wolves, and finally the ruler of Axel's surroundings—the One-Hit Bear.
Because of his overwhelming combat power, the adventurers of Axel had long since abandoned their initial disdain, instead acknowledging him as the strongest adventurer in the area.
The One-Hit Bear was around level 65, while Axel's average adventurer level hovered near 40. If they formed a proper party, defeating one wasn't impossible—
But Ren Kuroda had done it alone.