For a few days after my first death, I spend my day either training Megumin in melee combat or doing some easy missions. By easy, I mean, escort and delivery mission kind of easy. Everyone was still shaken up with our death that they decided to take a break from life threatening situation.
Though, Megumin is getting better and better at her training that she now got herself 'Two Handed Weapon Mastery IV' and 'Martial Arts IV'. Just training with her at this point counts as a life threatening situation.
Heck, I was forced to learn some defensive skills from Darkness to survive her attacks.
So there I was, just finishing some luggage carrying mission to a nearby village. I sat down with my party members and was about to order some food when…
"Eh? You're the one who take it?! What the hell?" an adventurer came towards us. He's dressed like a warrior and doesn't look all that sober. "Aren't you Fantastic Dreamer? The strongest party in Axel!? What the hell are you doing carrying some luggage!?"
Ahh, I should've seen this one coming. It's unfair for us as the high ranking party in Axel to take on easy jobs. The lower ranking adventurers struggles to even complete an easy job in the winter, let alone find them. I should really apologize…
I stood up from my position and bowed a little. "Forgive me, I didn't think it through, I should've think more about other adventurers who might need that quest more than us," I straightened my posture and turned to Darkness. "Darkness, give this man the bounty from that mission, he deserves it more than us."
Darkness handed me a pouch of coins. I weighed it a little before giving the angry adventurer a patient smile. "Here you go, for you and your party."
The pouch flew out of my grip and the coins clattered on the floor.
The guild turned silent and some adventurers started casting the man some warning look.
"I don't need your charity! And you haven't answered my question, why the hell are you taking this job?! Or could it be you guys decided that you're too weak to handle missions with your party?" he turned towards my party members. "Archpriest, Crusader, Archwizard, and what are you? Adventurer!? You dead weight!"
Oi, oi, can't you feel the murder intent? It's not even directed at me and I feel threatened.
"Hey, say something you weakest job holder. Really, bringing 3 fair ladies around, flaunting your harem? And all of them have top tier jobs. You must be creating wonderful memories everyday with these Onee-sans right?"
Aqua, no don't do it, I didn't make you learn that to use on a human. Megumin, we're indoors, do not blow up the guild, no put down your staff. Darkness, stop her, yes, no! Stop her, don't make way for her!
"Being surrounded by top tier class is so blissful. How envious it is to not know suffering! How about switching places with me bro?"
'CRACK'
Staff meets arm in a span of less than a millisecond, resulting in a local explosion. Nearby tables were thrown around and the floor below us cracked under the pressure. A bunch of adventurers fled away from us while some just stared in mute awe.
Megumin lowered her staff and took step back, much calmer than before.
"Careful man, you almost died back there," I joked.
Except that everyone knew it wasn't just a joke. The Archwizard moved faster than humanely possible and would've caved in his skull if I didn't block her attack. Coupled by the fact that she's capable of enhancing her attack with freaking explosion, he literally almost died.
The man who was left on his butt in the aftermath of the explosion and seeing me unflinching after taking that attack gulped nervously. "I-I'm sorry," he said.
I just chuckled a little and offered my hand. "Hey, no hard feelings man, what's your name?"
"Dust."
"Well hello there Dust, where's your party member?"
Dust turned towards his friends, they're currently sprawled around on the floor from the explosion. There's a man in heavy armor who looked like a crusader, a girl wearing a green cloak who's probably a wizard, and finally a lean man with a bow behind his back. Obviously he's an archer.
"Yo! Nice to meet you all,"
The crusader quickly responded by stepping forward and bowing in front of me. "Forgive my party member's behavior," he said.
"Ayy, no hard feelings, what's your name? And job too if you don't mind."
"It's Taylor, Crusader,"
I turned towards the other two members.
"Ly-Lynn, I'm a wizard," the wizard replied nervously.
"Keith, an Archer," the archer said.
I turned towards my party members. They all seemed to have cooled down a little. "Come on guys, introduce yourself, I just got an idea," I told them.
Aqua rolled her eyes and stood up from her seat, followed by Darkness who just sighed at my antics.
"I am Aqua, Archpriest,"
"Darkness, Crusader,"
"I am Megumin! The strongest Archwizard!"
"And I am Kazuma," I smirked and bowed. "A lowly adventurer,"
Taylor shook his head. "Don't sell yourself short like that Kazuma sama, you're already known as the strongest adventurer in this town. Dust here is just drunk and stupid."
"Yes, but I want to teach your party a lesson," I waved my hand dismissively. "Not teach a lesson in that sense, I mean, after what Dust said I realized we should make ourselves more useful. That is by training the adventurers in this town."
There was a moment of silence before whispers and mutterings came from all around us. Some of excitement, some of confusion, some of suspicion, and some of relief.
"Wh-what do you mean, Kazuma sama? Train other parties?"
"You're going on a mission aren't you? How about I hitch along the ride?" I asked them.
"But it's just goblin extermination," he said.
"I don't mind," then I turned to Dust. "And you, Dust, will be the leader of Fantastic Dreamer for one whole day. See if you have what it takes to lead a party full of overpowered specialist," I told them.
This time, even my own party members looked at me like I'm crazy.
"What do you mean Kazuma sama?" Dust asked.
"You said it yourself right? In your own words 'Being surrounded by top tier class is so blissful. How envious it is to not know suffering! How about switching places with me bro?', well, let's switch places."
Then I turned to the rest of my team members. "Also, this is a test of your independence, don't rely on me too much okay? Oh and please listen to Dust, be good girls while I'm away, okay?"
With that, I left Fantastic Dreamer for one whole day…