"This really is something you don't see every day. I hardly ever see that guy Yud—" Kys paused, then laughed to himself, correcting smoothly, "—Ren Kuroda looking that flustered. Judging by his reaction, it seems like he's actually scared of you two."
Kys took another huge gulp of his wheat beer, let out a satisfied belch, and stared at Ren Kuroda's hurriedly retreating back with open curiosity.
"So that's how it is. Turns out you actually know him. No wonder you dared to joke around like that—I honestly thought I was about to get killed just now."
"Well, if it's Ren Kuroda, then teasing him a bit is completely fine," Kys said casually."I mean, his strength is absurdly overpowered, and his looks are so good they make people jealous—but despite all that, he doesn't have the slightest bit of arrogance. He gets along just fine even with ordinary adventurers, and he seems to genuinely enjoy listening to stories about this world.As long as you've got an interesting story to tell, he'll happily treat you to food and drinks—and he won't even let you pay."
"And that's exactly why Ren Kuroda has such amazing popularity in Axel. He's the kind of guy nobody can find fault with," Kys continued, his tone suddenly turning bitter."But that's also the problem! Because of him, tons of young girls in Axel have started seeing him as their prince on a white horse. It's completely wiped out any chances for us single male adventurers. These days, he's basically the public enemy of every guy in Axel!"
The moment Ren Kuroda's name came up, Kys put on a look of deep anguish. Back in the day, male adventurers with halfway decent looks had actually been pretty popular in a beginner-town like Axel.
But ever since Ren Kuroda arrived, everything changed.
In less than a single month after coming to town, he had already built up an enormous fan club—leaving Kys and the other chronically single adventurers drowning in jealousy, envy, and resentment.
"Hmph. That's just because you guys don't try hard enough," Luna cut in, unable to listen any longer."You spend all day lounging around the guild, drinking and bragging. If you actually put in some effort, you could still become stronger.Ren Kuroda is powerful, handsome, and gentle on top of that. An adventurer like that being popular with women is only natural."
And to be fair, Axel's adventurers really were a bit too laid-back. Most of them weren't low-level by any means, yet they limited themselves to easy commissions just to scrape by day to day, with no intention of leveling up or getting stronger.
But when you thought about it, that was only natural. After all, most of Axel's higher-level adventurers had chosen this remote frontier town precisely because they wanted a relaxed, carefree life.
"Alright then," Luna said with a warm smile."Since Ren Kuroda already spoke up for you, please come with me to complete your adventurer registration.If you have any questions afterward, whether as the guild receptionist or as Ren Kuroda's friend, I'll be happy to answer anything."
Watching her long-term meal ticket slip right through her fingers, Aqua felt utterly helpless—but there was nothing she could do about it.
As a useless goddess who had always lived a life of having food and clothes handed to her, Aqua might not even survive on her own.
Kazuma might be a bit of a deadweight too, but at least he possessed some basic common sense. For now, Aqua had no choice but to swallow her pride and continue sticking with him.
Besides, they now had the money needed to register as adventurers. Once they officially became adventurers, with their "talents," supporting themselves shouldn't be that hard.
…Of course, that was assuming they actually had any talent to begin with.
Yet both Aqua and Satou Kazuma seemed incredibly confident on that front, firmly believing themselves to be once-in-a-generation geniuses.
A few minutes later, however, a certain boy who had been brimming with confidence just moments ago was now hunched over on the floor like a defeated stray dog, muttering endlessly to himself.
"No way… I'm supposed to be a hero summoned from another world, right? So what the hell are these mediocre stats?!Other than luck being high, everything else is below average? My physical abilities aren't even enough to change jobs into a basic warrior—I can only become the most generic adventurer?!"
That's right. After receiving the registration fee, both Kazuma and Aqua completed their adventurer registration. Once the crystal ball assessment was finished, their stats were recorded on their guild cards.
And when the two saw their results, their reactions couldn't have been more different.
After Kazuma's test, Luna's evaluation was blunt and merciless: mediocre. Aside from having unusually high luck, none of his stats were worth mentioning.
Aqua, on the other hand—likely because she was a goddess—displayed shockingly high stats on her card.
Aside from "Intelligence" and "Luck," both of which were abysmally low and couldn't be increased, all of Aqua's other stats were outstanding. Her magic power, in particular, was pushed straight to the maximum.
Luna even stated that Aqua's magic stat was the highest she had ever seen in her entire career. Even Ren Kuroda, who had set a new record just a month ago, couldn't compare to her in that regard.
Thanks to her exceptional magic power, Aqua qualified for every rare magic-based class. Compared to Kazuma—who couldn't select any advanced class at all—the gap between them was like heaven and earth.
Upon learning his stats, Satou Kazuma was utterly crushed. He never imagined that his isekai life would be this miserable. Being mediocre in his original world was one thing—but ending up just as mediocre in another world was beyond cruel.
In contrast, Aqua swelled with pride the moment she saw her stats.
After all, she'd heard from Luna that Ren Kuroda's initial stats—magic included—had been lower than hers, yet he had still become Axel's strongest adventurer in just one month.
Naturally, Aqua concluded that since her starting stats were even better—and she was a goddess, no less—anything that took Ren Kuroda a month to achieve would take her only a few days.
High on confidence, Aqua quickly chose the rare class Arch Priest, then urged Luna to assign them a quest as soon as possible. Without wasting a second, she dragged Kazuma out of the adventurers' guild.
"…Is this really going to be okay?" Kys muttered, watching the pair rush off."Using Ren Kuroda as a benchmark is completely meaningless. I've never even heard of a level-one adventurer killing multiple giant frogs in a single strike.That guy clearly already had serious strength before becoming an adventurer. There's no way ordinary people can replicate that."
Kys had wanted to warn them, but the two who already thought they were soaring to greatness were desperate to improve their living conditions as soon as possible. After accepting their quest, they disappeared in a hurry.
"…They should be fine, right?" Luna said hesitantly."Giant frogs are very low-risk enemies, and Miss Aqua is an Arch Priest. She shouldn't be in any real danger."
—
Meanwhile, back at his residence in Axel, the now-idle Ren Kuroda finally saw his system's world mission activate.
Just as he had suspected, Satou Kazuma was most likely this world's chosen one. Otherwise, there was no way a world-level quest would have triggered the moment Ren encountered him.
World Mission: Protect AxelBefore the ancient weapon—Mobile Fortress Destroyer—reaches Axel, protect the town from destruction.Two prerequisite conditions must be fulfilled before the fortress arrives. Failure to do so will result in mission failure.
Prerequisite Condition 1: Become Axel's strongest adventurer (Completed)Prerequisite Condition 2: Defeat at least one Demon King Army General (Incomplete)
Due to his limited knowledge of this world, Ren Kuroda had no idea what this so-called "mobile fortress" actually was.
However, based on the mission description, it seemed clear that the fortress would eventually come to Axel on its own—so there was no need for him to actively search for it.
All he needed to do was protect the town when that day arrived.
The problem was that he didn't know when the fortress would show up. That meant the remaining prerequisite tasks had to be completed as soon as possible.
Otherwise, even if he destroyed the fortress, the mission would still count as a failure.
At first, Ren Kuroda had been anxious to trigger the world mission. But now, strangely enough, he felt much less rushed.
He had come to realize that this world was genuinely interesting.
After becoming an adventurer, he could obtain levels and classes just like everyone else. More importantly, every time he leveled up, he could clearly feel his physical abilities improving as well.
As for his Demon Sword Adept class, new abilities continued to unlock as his level increased.
Ren didn't care much for flashy sword techniques or overly elaborate skills. Every time he leveled up, he invested all his skill points into the class's core traits instead.
Reducing mana consumption when casting spells.Reducing stamina consumption when using swords.Increasing magic resistance.Boosting magic power when casting spells while wielding a blade.
All passive abilities.
Normally, adventurers prioritized active combat skills after leveling up. Someone like Ren—dumping everything into traits and passives—was practically unheard of.
After all, no matter how strong your traits were, without skills to actually kill enemies, they were mostly pointless.
But for Ren Kuroda, this was the perfect build.
He didn't lack combat techniques. What he needed were support passives and resistances.
Once those were sufficiently leveled, combined with his Regeneration ability, he would no longer be a glass cannon with overwhelming attack power and fragile defenses.
From then on, Ren Kuroda would truly become a monster that refused to fall.