65. An Extermination Quest

The three of them chose their jobs, Izumi chose a swordmaster, Kuroneko chose a magic swordsman, and Luffy chose a fighter. The receptionist lady was surprised by Kuroneko's choice. The lady thought she would choose an arch wizard based on her stats. But she chose a magic swordsman instead.

"Hey, Kazuma. Aren't your acquaintances too strong? How about we invite them to our party since they're Japanese? But, how weird. I don't think I remember ever sending them to this world." Aqua whispered in doubt.

"Of course, I know they're powerful. But you think they want to join our party?" Kazuma replied.

"What a surprise, HikiNEET like you could even make friends." Aqua glanced at Kazuma in surprise.

"Don't say HikiNEET HikiNEET like that!" Kazuma chopped her head in annoyance.

Meanwhile.

"Do we need to take a quest now?" Izumi asked Kuroneko and Luffy.

*Growl*

Izumi and Kuroneko heard the rumbling of Luffy's stomach

"I'm hungry. Izumi, can you cook something?" Luffy asked Izumi while holding his stomach. Izumi glanced at Luffy to ask.

"Don't you have a pile of meat in your storage space?"

"I…*nom-nom*…want to save those…*nom-nom*…for reserve."

*Slap* Kuroneko slapped Luffy's head while twitching her lips.

"Ouch."

Luffy couldn't help but rub his head, wondering if Kuroneko was Nami. Kuroneko pointed at him while saying.

"Then, what is that thing you're holding?"

What Luffy was holding was a piece of manga meat bone. The usual manga meat that often appeared in manga or anime.

Izumi couldn't hold his laugh. Luffy said it was reserved, but he still ate it.

Izumi calmed Kuroneko down and told her to choose the quests listed on the board near the counter.

"What the heck is this stupid quest?" Kuroneko exclaimed while pointing with her index finger.

Izumi took a glance. The quest said that the requester was looking for someone who had a high resistance body for the experiment.

Izumi twitched when he read the description of that quest.

Meanwhile, Luffy was confused.

"Eh, it seems I can understand those characters."

What Luffy meant was that he could understand the letters in Kazuma's world.

"Eh, I'm surprised that you can even read." Instead, Kuroneko was surprised that Luffy could read.

"His grandfather was very strict. From a young age, he was trained by his grandfather to become a marine. Of course, being taught how to read is not a strange thing." Izumi explained.

Luffy nodded in confirmation. But, he wondered how Izumi knew about his past.

Izumi joined in reading the quest lists on the quest board. Then he pointed.

"How about this?" The quest that Izumi pointed out was the extermination of the Griffon and Manticore who were said to be fighting for territory. And their fight caused trouble for a nearby town.

"What is the Manticore?" Kuroneko asked.

"You watch anime a lot and don't know what Manticore is?"

"I'm not that free to watch any anime!"

Izumi slightly doubted what Kuroneko said. However, it seemed that Luffy didn't know the Manticore either. So he explained that the Manticore was a rare monster. It has the face of a human, the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and the wings of a bat. In addition, that monster could imitate the way humans spoke.

Luffy's eyes lit after he heard Izumi's explanation.

"Sounds amazing. I want to invite that monster to join me."

Izumi could only slap his forehead. He shouldn't have taken that quest because Luffy would not only be attracted to someone with unique abilities but also to monsters.

He sighed. He had already explained and Luffy had told Izumi to leave immediately regardless that he was hungry now.

When Izumi was about to leave, Kazuma along with his party members came over.

"Hey, you!" Aqua called out.

Izumi turned to Aqua who was followed by Kazuma and the others. Then he greeted them.

"Nice to meet you, ladies, and the little girl. My name is Izumi."

"Li-little girl?" Megumin stuttered after hearing what Izumi said.

"Where are you from, aren't you Japanese? How can you be here?" Aqua started to interrogate Izumi because she could see the traits of Japanese people on his face.

"Japanese? Like Kazuma?" Darkness tilted her head.

"Hey beauty, you shouldn't ask a private question like that! We're not that close, okay? Shouldn't you have introduced yourselves too?" Izumi asked back with a smile.

"Who would want to get closer to you!! Well, luckily you praised me, I am the God who manipulates water, the Goddess that the Axis cultists worship, Aqua." Aqua instantly changed her attitude and introduced herself haughtily.

"Goddess?" Megumin, who recovered from her shock after being called a little girl, and Darkness who turned toward Aqua, responded.

"Just a pitiful woman claiming to be a goddess. She will say stuff like that from time to time. Please don't mind her!" Kazuma explained to them.

Megumin and Darkness looked at Aqua with sympathetic eyes while Aqua was on the verge of tears because her existence as a goddess was denied by her party.

"Goddess? You're a goddess? Amazing!!!" Luffy asked Aqua with his eyes shining. Aqua immediately wiped out her tears and her expression changed into smugness.

Izumi and Kuroneko slapped their foreheads as they realized that there was someone who might believe in something dumb the other said. Even though Aqua was indeed a goddess.

"I am Luffy, the man who will become a Pirate King!" Luffy introduced himself with his usual line while holding his straw hat. His introduction made Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness confused.

"Luffy, we're not at sea, so it doesn't matter if you want to be the Pirate King or not." Izumi commented.

"Oh right I forgot, we're from ano—*Bang*" Luffy's words were stopped by Izumi who slammed Luffy's head to the floor.

"Don't say such things in front of this goddess, it's troublesome!" Izumi said inwardly.

"Ah, are you okay, Luffy? Sorry, my hand slipped." Izumi said plainly. While the others said "SLIP YOUR HEAD!" in their minds.

Luffy could only say "umf, umf" with his head buried on the floor.

Izumi wanted to help Luffy, but he saw Luffy trying to get his head off the floor until his neck was stretching.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!"

"HIS NECK!!!"

"HIS NECK STRETCHED!!"

Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness screamed out loud. All the adventurers in the guild turned their heads toward them as they attracted attention. They were also surprised to see someone who could extend his neck. Obviously, it's not normal for a human to stretch something out of his body like rubber. And this was their first time seeing such a person.

*pluck*

"Haaaah, haaaaah, haaaaa...." Luffy gasped for air as soon as he managed to get his head off the floor. Then, he turned his head to Izumi.

"Why did you hit me, Izumi?" Luffy complained.

"My hand slipped." Izumi shrugged his shoulders. Luffy was taken aback and wanted to hit him back.

"Wait, stop! Sorry, sorry! In exchange, I'll cook you meat dishes. Okay!"

Luffy immediately stopped and did what Izumi said.

Then Izumi turned around, glancing at Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness. They are still surprised by Luffy's neck that can extend.

He coughed to wake them up. Then pointed at Luffy while saying.

"Umm, that guy is Luffy, as you can see, he is—."

"I'm a rubber human." Luffy interjected.

Kuroneko walked and stood in front of Izumi.

She covered her left eye with her palm, then said.

"Khukhukhu. Let this queen introduce her great self. This queen is known as the Queen of Nightmare, the queen of dreams. Bear that in thy minds! Khukhukhu."

Izumi thought that Kuroneko's introduction style seemed to be worse than before.

"My name is Megumin, an Arch Wizard who has mastered the powerful and strongest magic spell, Explosion!!" Megumin also introduced herself in the same style as Kuroneko.

Izumi, Kazuma, and Aqua look at each other.

"As I thought, they're a kindred spirit."

"An acute Chuunibyou."

"I even thought that they were from the same race."

Izumi, Kazuma, and Aqua each gave their opinion after seeing how Kuroneko and Megumin introduced themselves.

"My name is Darkness. Even though I'm really bad at using the sword because I can't hit the enemy, I can be used as a shield so others can attack the enemy instead." Darkness introduced herself with a flushed face and heavy breathing. Her aura seemed too erotic, however, Izumi and Kuroneko felt creeps at her so they took a step back.

Izumi raised his hand.

"Well then, I'm gonna take the quest. See ya later! And Kazuma, good luck with your party!"

He walked away while gesturing for Kuroneko and Luffy to follow him.

Suddenly he heard Aqua say something.

"Hey, you don't want to ask this goddess to join you?" Aqua stopped them with a smug on her face.

"No, you smell like trouble." Izumi replied straightly.

Kazuma and Aqua saw their figures disappear behind Axel's town buildings.