"Have you heard? Rumor says that a boss of the demon king army had taken over an old castle which is situated in the hills a short walk from town."
In the corner of the bar operated by the guild. I was listening to a man sitting at my table and drinking during the day. I am not drinking beer though, but Neroid swish. What is Neroid. What is swish. I only tried it out of curiosity since the people told me this was the non alcoholic beverage of choice among patrons… If you ask me if it was good, I could only answer it this way:
… Erm, I don't know.
But I know what swish meant. It's the texture you feel when you drink it. This wasn't a carbonated drink. I don't really get what the swish texture was, but this feeling could only be described as swish. I finished the Neroid and place the cup on the table…
"A boss from the demon king army. That sounds bad, but it had nothing to do with us."
"That's right."
The man before me agreed with my negative and irresponsible words. The number of people chatting in the Adventurers guild was unexpectedly large and I could hear many interesting topics.
For example spotting dangerous monsters at some place so do not take quests from that area. I had a hard time just surviving since coming to this world, and had never gathered intelligence in this way before. Collecting information was the most important stage in collecting the flags you had raised. Gathering and talking about such things in a bar had a feeling of an adventurer, which made me happy. The man sitting opposite me said:
"Anyway, it's better not to approach the abandoned castle to the north of town. This is not the capital of the kingdom, so who knows what the boss of the demon army is doing here. But since it is a boss, it is probably a Lord Ogre, vampire, arch demon or dragon. No matter which one it is, it must be a monster that could kill us instantly. The best way is to not take any quest near that abandoned castle."
Or news of certain monster hating the smell of tangerine juice, so smearing it on you will keep them away. After thanking that man, I left my seat and returned to the table my party was at…
"…What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Terly, Lighttress and Meguma took small mouthfuls of the vegetable sticks in the cup in the center of the table as they stared at me.
"Nothing–? I wasn't worried about Kanike joining another party or anything."
Terly said as she looked at me with uneasy eyes.
"…? Eh, I was only gathering information, that is the basics of adventurers."
I took a seat at their table and reached for a vegetable stick. Dodge. The vegetable stick dodged my out reached hand.
… Hey.
"What are you doing Kanike."
Terly slammed the table, making the vegetable stick jump in surprise. When the vegetable sticks were in the air momentarily, Terly grabbed one and stuffed it in her mouth.
"… Hmm. You looked so happy. You seemed to be having fun chatting, Kanike. You seemed close to the members of the other parties huh?"
Meguma slammed the table with her fist, and picked up the vegetable stick that was too scared to move and shoved it in her mouth.
"… What is this refreshing feeling? Seeing Kanike being on good terms with the other parties, the melancholic feeling is mixed with something good… Could this be the legendary NTR…?"
That crazy pervert who was spilling nonsense flicked the edge of the cup with her finger and took a vegetable stick nimbly.
"What is this, what is with you all? Isn't collecting intelligence in such a place the basics…?"
I hit the table as I spoke and reached for the vegetable sticks…Dodge.
"... What is with this dodging—-!"
"St, stop–! What are you doing to my vegetable sticks! No, don't destroy the
food!"
My hand that failed to grab the vegetable stick took the cup containing the sticks instead, holding it high as I prepare to throw it against the wall. But, Terly who was on the verge of tears restrained my hand.
"How dare a mere vegetable look down on me! It's a bit wrong to retort so late, but why could the vegetable run. Could you please serve food that is already dead!?"
"What are you talking about. Be it fish or vegetable, it taste better if it is fresher right? Haven't you heard of killing it fresh and serving it on the spot?"
Then kill it before serving it. I gave up on eating the vegetable sticks and said:
"Hai… forget it, let's ignore the vegetable for now, I have something important to ask you. I was thinking about what skills to learn after leveling up. To be honest, the composition of this party is too unbalanced. So I'm thinking of making up for our weakness since I have the most flexible job… By the way, what skills have you all learned?"
That's right, to improve the efficiency of taking harder quests, it was important to consider the teamwork of the party before learning skills. That's what I thought when I came to discuss things with them, but…
"My skills are centered around 'Physical Defense', 'Magical Resistance' and
'Abnormal Status Resistance'. I have a skill called 'Bait', used to taunt the enemy."
"… Don't you plan to learn something like '2-handed sword' to increase your attack accuracy?"
"I don't plan to. It might sound like I am boasting, but my stamina and strength are great. If my attacks land easily, I could easily defeat monsters without taking damage. And it's not good to hold back intentionally. It should be like this…Attacking with all my might but couldn't hit the enemy, and being captured as my strength wanes, that is the best."
"Enough, you shut up."
"… Hmmmhmm…! You are the one who asked, but to treat me like this…"
I decided to ignore Lighttress who was panting with a red face. I looked at Meguma who tilted her head and said:
"Of course I learned explosion related skills, 'Explosion', 'Explosion Damage Increase' and 'Fast Chanting' et cetera. All the skills to cast the perfect explosion spell. It was the same before, and will of course be so in the future."
"… No matter what, you have no intention of learning something like mid tier magic?"
"I don't plan to."
This fellow won't do either…
"As for me…"
"There is no need."
"Eheh?"
Terly was planning to explain her skills, but I shut her up immediately. It's just party tricks, party tricks and party tricks anyway. And so…
"Why can't this party get its act together...Maybe I should think about switching parties…"
"!" x 3
My soft mumbling surprised the three of them.