5 Flying Cabbages?
Tomorrow, Alex just entered on the adventurer's guild, when…
Adventurer 1: Lady Aqua, one more time! I'm willing to pay for it, so could you perform Nature's Beauty once more?
Adventurer 2: Fool, Aqua prefers food instead of money! Right, Aqua? I'll treat you to a meal, so please do Nature's Beauty again!
Aqua: My performances aren't things that can be performed whenever they're requested! A great man once said that "A funny joke can only be told once". Doing the same trick repeatedly because they're popular means you're a third-rate performer!
And I'm not a performer, so I won't accept money for my performance! This should be the basic attitude of a performance artisan. And I didn't perform Nature's Beauty for you to see– Ah! Alex, you're finally back.
Alex: ...What the fuck are you doing?
The Crusader of yesterday, Darkness… Strange name by the way… Was on a table and waved at him.
Darkness: She made a trick once and now they want to see it again.
Alex facepalmed, and let out a long sigh.
Alex: Anyway, let's go to another que-
A loud broadcast interrupted him.
"Emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers in town, please gather at the adventurer's guild! I repeat, emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers in town, please gather at the adventurer's guild!"
Alex: Huh? Hey, what are these "Emergency Quests"? Are monsters raiding the town?
Darkness and Megumin seemed elated, and Darkness explained.
Darkness: It's probably cabbage harvesting. It's the season for them.
Alex: ...Cabbage?
Aqua: Ah, Alex probably doesn't know. Let me tell you, the cabbages of this world-
Suddenly, a staff member interrupted her.
Staff Member: I apologize for gathering everyone on such a short notice! I'm sure everyone knows that the emergency is because of the cabbages! It's time to harvest cabbages! The quality's great this year and each one's worth 10,000 eris!
We've already evacuated the residents so please harvest more cabbages and turn them in here! Please take care of your own safety and don't get hurt from the cabbages' counterattack! Also, because of the large amount of people and bounty, the reward will be given out later!
Alex had a small idea about what happened, in Adventure Quest World, there were certain strange monsters that would make someone laugh, like during the thanksgiving event, where the boss monster was a giant turkey…
Aqua: The cabbages in this world can fly. When their taste ripens during harvest season, they fly through cities, over plains, across the continent and to the ocean, unwilling to be eaten. Because of that, we need to catch the cabbages and eat them while they're still delicious.
Alex: ...Do they give experience?
Aqua: Yes! They gi-
*SLAM!*
The door of the adventurer's guild was kicked open and Alex rushed outside while wielding two small knives.
[1 hour later]
*Crunch*
Alex was eating fried cabbage as much as he could, and drank water to digest it. Meanwhile, Aqua, Megumin and Darkness were talking with each other.
Aqua: You're skilled, Darkness! As expected of a Crusader! The cabbages couldn't break through your iron-wall defense no matter what they did.
Darkness: No, I didn't do much, I'm just really tough. I'm clumsy and slow so I can't really hit my target; my only strong point is shielding others…
Megumin has an impressive offense. You took out the horde of monsters that were chasing the cabbages right into town with just one explosion attack; all the other adventurers were shocked.
Megumin: Kuku, no one could stand up to the power of my explosion magic… But Alex was the most active one, he picked me up after I exhausted my mana and carried me back.
Darkness: ...Yeah, when I was surrounded by cabbages and monsters, Alex showed up and attacked all the cabbages attacking me. Thank you for rescuing me.
Aqua: Indeed, standing on the enemy zone for an entire hour, dodging cabbages left and right and stabbing them with your knives, so you can seal their movements. That was just like a warrior! Alex, with my authority, I grant you the title of "Cabbage Slayer!".
Alex stopped eating and said.
Alex: Fuck off!
Then he turned to eat cabbages, meanwhile his level increased of 2, reaching 9, his skill points reached 8. Soon he would be unable to eat more, so he slowed down a bit.
Darkness: Alright, I will properly introduce myself this time. I'm Darkness, a Crusader. Theoretically, my weapon is a two-handed sword, but don't count on it too much. I'm clumsy with my hands and tend to miss. But I'm good at being a tank, so please take care of me.
Aqua: Hmph, our party's becoming great. I'm an Archpriest, Megumin is an Archmage, Alex is a offensive-specialized Void Highlord, and now we have the defensive speciality vanguard, the Crusader Darkness. All four of us have a top-tier job!
Darkness: Well then, Alex. I'll probably… No, I'll certainly be a bother to you, so don't back and lecture me viciously. Please take care of me from now on.
Alex: God…
Aqua: You called?
Alex: Fuck off!
Alex continued to ravage his cabbages, gaining more experience points, each cabbage was worth 10'000 Eris, and they got really many of them, gaining a little over a million, and that was only Alex's gains.
After that day, he was able to reach level 10, thus gaining 10 skill points in total, which were used immediately for the Summon Weapon, and the result was much more than what he asked about.
[Summon Weapon]
>Level 3/4
>Cost: 17 Skill Points
>Can summon four weapons with minimum cost of mana, and can telepathically move them.
>Weapons that can be summoned:
**Normal weaponry
**Darkblood Nulgath Blade
**Bloodletter of Nulgath
**Phoenix Blade of Nulgath
**Shadow Spear of Nulgath
**Oblivion Blade of Nulgath
**Champion Blade of Nulgath
*[new]*Evolved Shadow Spear of Nulgath: [SPECIAL] Made of pure darkness, perfect against holy elements, can be thrown and unleash an explosion at impact.
*[new]*Overfiend Blade of Nulgath: [SPECIAL] It requires great strength to lift it, but its destructive powers and durability are unmatched.
*[new]*Combat Soulreaper of Nulgath: [SPECIAL] A scythe that is able to harvest souls, Low-Level monsters give 0 skill points, Mid-Level monsters give 3 skill points, High-level monsters give 10 skill points, Elite-Level monsters give 30 skill points, and Boss-Level beings give 100 skill points.
He had a sudden urge to use the scythe on Aqua… She should count as a Boss-Level being, right? Anyway, the next target of his skill point will be "Unsurmountable", so the fights could last longer, and he would have more chances to win against people of his level.
Alex got alone to buy a light armor for himself, he had a pair of gauntlets, a chainmail and some armor for his knees and elbows. Right now he was ready to start harder missions, but not by much, he asked about taking a quest to everyone and they nodded in agreement.
Darkness: It's the giant toad mating season, and they've been showing up near town. How about…
Aqua/Megumin: No toads!
Darkness: ...Why not? Toads fear blades and are easy to take down, their sole mode of attack is grabbing the prey with their tongues, and the meat of toads can be sold for easy money.
I've heard that you might get eaten if your equipment is too weak, but since toads hate metal, Alex should be safe with his current equipment. I'll protect Aqua and Megumin.
Alex: They got PTSD from getting eaten from toads, let's find another quest... I still need to try my new weapons.
Darkness: About weapons, hey Alex, what are those strange weapons you summoned sometimes? They gave me a strange feeling…
Alex: They are demonic weapons.
Darkness: D-Demonic weapons?!
Strangely, she panicked and grabbed Alex's collar.
Darkness: What do you mean with demonic weapons?! Are you a demon?!
Alex: ...Well… It's a long story, but I'm still human, even if I wield a demonic class, the Void Highlord.
It seems that Darkness didn't like demons, so she checked all over Alex, but didn't found any suspicious hint of him being a demon, maybe it's something about her religion, she said she was a member of the Eris Order.
Darkness: Phew… Thanks Eris that you aren't a demon, I might have killed you.
Alex: ...Can you even kill me?
Darkness: ...No…
Alex: Anyway, this will be the first quest that our entire party will take, so let's pick something good.
Megumin and Darkness went to the bulletin board after hearing Alex.
Aqua: Hmph, we should take on a bunch of high-level jobs and make lots of money, level up like crazy and take down the Demon King easily! We all have top-tier jobs!
Alex: ...I really didn't want to say this, but… You haven't been of use the entire time.
Aqua was stunned, but Alex carried on.
Alex: The only thing you can do is healing, and soon I will get a skill that could help me with healing, the only thing you did so far was keeping busy the toads.
Aqua: Waahh!!!
She started crying and put her face down onto the table, meanwhile Alex checked around the place, waiting for Megumin and Darkness to return.
