“All riiiight—good work, everyone! That’s it for today! Here, come and get your pay!”

“Thank you, sir! Another good day of work, sir!” “Whooo, work!”

At the foreman’s announcement of the end of the workday, Aqua and | each offered a word of thanks and a bow of the head.

“Okay, everyone,” | said. “See you tomorrow!” “Whooo, tomorrow!” Aqua echoed as | said good-bye to the other workers.

“Right, good work! And tomorrow’s another day!” With the others’ voices still in our ears, Aqua and | walked off the site.

Phew! Another day’s work finished.

Even | could hardly believe | was once a hikikomori. Aqua and | headed for the town’s largest public bath, clutching our day’s wages.

The baths here were more or less the same as the ones in Japan. The entry fee was maybe a bit higher compared to the average wage, but a hot bath after a long day of work was something | couldn’t let fall by the wayside, even if it was a little expensive.

“Awww, yeah... That’s the stuff...”

| sank into the steaming bath up to my shoulders, letting the water wash away the day’s fatigue.

This world looked a bit like the Middle Ages, and I’d always assumed baths would be a luxury in a fantasy world, but apparently I’d been wrong.

And thank goodness...!

Aqua left the bath and waited for me at the entrance. | guess it’s not very chivalrous to make a woman wait while you finish soaking, but then again, maybe that’s just a bath-loving Japanese person for you.

“What do you wanna eat today? | want a Smoke Lizard burger. And a nice cold Crimson Neroid

“Yeah, I’d like some meat, too. Well, how about we get the guy at the inn to whip us up a couple of his Smoke Lizard hamburger combo meals?”

“No objections!”

Aqua and | wolfed down our meals, and then, with nothing special to do, we went back to the stable we were staying at.

| picked the hay that smelled the least like horse poop to make my bed and lay right down. Aqua was curled up nearby as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Kay, g night!”

“...Night. Man, we really did some work today...” And so | began to drift off into a deep, satisfied sl... “Wait, hold on a minute!”

| bolted upright.

“What’s wrong? Did you forget to use the toilet before bed? It’s dark outside. Want me to go with you?”

“No! That’s not it. Why are we doing manual labor every day?” Yes.

Aqua and | had spent every day of the last two weeks working on an expansion to the town wall. l.e., doing construction work.

This was a far cry from the adventuring I’d expected when | came here.

Come to think of it, how had Aqua adapted so uncomplainingly to this life? She’s a goddess, isn’t she?

“Well, it’s ’cause if you want to eat, you have to work. Don’t you like construction? Sheesh. This is why you’re a hikiNEET. You could hawk goods in the shopping district, if you’d rather?”

“That’s not the point! | want—I came here for heart-pounding battles with monsters, okay? | thought the Demon King’s invasion was threatening this place! But you couldn’t find a more peaceful world! There’s no demons; there’s hardly any kings—what did we come here for?!”

Our voices got louder as our tempers flared, until we heard shouts nearby: “Hey, you! Shaddup! People are tryin’ to sleep!” “Oh! Sorry! So sorry...”

Novice adventurers are poor, okay? They don’t have the money for a room at the inn every night. Usually they pool their resources with other adventurers and sleep in one big dormitory-style room, but right now, all we could afford to rent was a haystack in the stables.

Yeah...definitely not living up to how I'd envisioned the adventuring life in a fantasy world.

Staying at the inn was sort of like if you slept in a hotel every night back in Japan. Not a lifestyle for those without a steady income—like us, for example.

Video games normally feature some simple starter quests, like harvesting herbs or hunting some monsters near town. No such thing here. Plus, monsters don’t just soew money when you defeat them, either.

The monsters that lived in the forest near town had been wiped out long ago. And who’d pay money for someone to gather herbs in a perfectly peaceful forest?

No one, obviously.

Even children left the town’s walls with impunity. There was a guard at the gate, sure, but not the kind who locks everything down so tight an ant could hardly get in. The forest wasn’t big enough to be that worrisome—if anything dangerous showed up, the people just went out and got rid of it.

| guess it made sense when you thought about it, but it was all a bit too realworld-y for my liking.

In a game, a fresh-faced adventurer could go out in the woods, spend half a day picking easily distinguishable plants and herbs, and make enough money to pay for three square meals and a soft bed, too.

But when in real life has there ever been such easy money?

Think about it. Even in a rich country like Japan, have you ever met a laborer who spends every day of his life in a decent hotel?

Minimum wage? Labor laws? What are those? Are they tasty? Welcome to your RPG fantasy.

“I—I| know all that. This is the farthest town from the Demon King’s castle. He’d never bother attacking all the way out here, especially a town with nothing but greenhorns. So, Kazuma, you’re telling me you want to go on a real adventure? Before you've even gotten any gear together?”

In the face of Aqua’s blunt analysis, there was nothing | could say.

It was true. Aqua and | lacked even the most basic provisions for adventuring. We’d taken our nice, safe construction jobs in hopes of saving up enough to buy some equipment.

“I’m getting pretty tired of construction... | didn’t come all the way to a land of swords and sorcery just to work with my hands. | came here to adventure—no computers or game consoles needed. | was sent here to drive out the Demon King, wasn’t |?”

For a moment, Aqua looked at me as though she couldn’t understand what | was talking about. Then she exclaimed, “Oh, that’s right! We did mean to do something like that, didn’t we? | got so caught up in the joy of work that | completely forgot, but if you don’t take out the Demon King, | can’t go home, can |?”

| was a bit taken aback by her words, until | recalled the receptionist’s remark that Aqua’s Intelligence stat was below average.

“Fine, let’s go take him out! You’ve got me with you, so we'll be fiiiine. You can count on me!”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this... But | guess you are a goddess. All right, it’s up to you! Tomorrow we’ll get the cheapest equipment we can find and then start working on our levels!”

“Just leave it to me!” “| thought | told you to shaddup! Don’t make me come over there!” “Sorry! Pardon us!”

Even as we apologized to the other adventurer, my heart was dancing in my chest, and soon | was asleep.