Rookie Killer

After finishing off the goblins and on our way back.

"… Hahaha, if I were to know this earlier, I would stay as an adventurer," Keith said.

"Really! I was taught at the magic academy that beginners magic was just a waste of skill points! Kazuma sama, you should definitely rework the education system!"

"Wahahaha, not good, this is the first time I enjoyed hunting goblins this much! Ara, I thought we were doomed when I saw that Rookie Killer!"

We talked about the battle just now as we returned to town along the mountain path. They were still chatting about that fight with heightened emotions.

Ahh, this is nice.

This felt like a real adventuring party.

Don't get me wrong, the girls are awesome alright? But when I'm with them, it's more about timing and playing the enemy instead of clever tactics. Using the Darkness to somehow lure the Rookie Killer to the group of goblins before wiping them up in one spell for example.

Well, different situation calls for different measures.

Soon, we found ourselves in front of a wet patch of land in the middle of barren mountain path. It was the ice we used to trick the rookie killer and now it's all melted away.

"Lynn, can you cast 'Wind Curtain' on inanimate object?"

Lynn looked at me in disbelief. "What? Why? I mean, you probably have a clever idea already, but…" she bit her lip and looked around, trying to figure out what my idea is. "Okay, I give up, what's it for?"

I turned towards Keith and saw him staring intensely into the distance. "You're seeing it don't you?" I asked him after realizing he must be using his far sight skill.

"Yes, the Rookie Killer is a hundred meters away it hasn't notice us," he said.

"Alright, does anyone here has fabric or bandage?"

Taylor took out a handkerchief from his pocket. "Here, what do you need it for?"

"Keith, can you spare me three arrows?"

The guy gave me three arrows without any words.

I clumped the arrows together into a bundle of arrow. Then I handed it to Keith. "Think you can shoot it?"

"Yes? I don't think combining arrows like this will change much…"

"Lynn, burn those arrows and prepare Wind Curtain," I told our resident mage.

"Taylor, taunt the enemy!"

"Keith, get ready to use your most powerful shot."

With that, Lynn and Keith get to work. The archer put the arrow on his bow and took aim. Beside him, Lynn whispered tinder and started burning the bundle of arrow. It burns the arrow slightly, but didn't destroy it immediately.

"Take aim…" I watched as the fire grew larger and larger. "FIRE!"

"POWER SHOT!!!" Keith fired the flaming arrow. It's deadly enough as is, but then, Lynn cast wind curtain on the arrow and it started to spin. Not only does it spin, but the fire grew bigger and bigger.

The arrow made a straight path through the sky like a laser beam, leaving behind a trail of fire. When it hits the Rookie Hunter, the fire grew larger due to the wind curtain, swallowing it in flame and digging into its body due to the rotation.

The beast was killed when it was only twenty meters ahead of us. It lies dead on the ground with a huge circular burnt wound on its side.

"We did it…" Keith muttered to himself. "We bloody did it, we killed the Rookie Killer!"

"Oh my god I can't believe we did that!!" Lynn looked at me with a grateful look on her face. "Ne, Kazuma, how are you so smart? Your intelligence must be insane huh!? Can I see you card?"

Taylor stepped between us. "Now, now, Lynn. You can't just ask Kazuma about his adventurer card."

"It's okay, here," I showed them my card.

"Whoa, look at these numbers and… What is this intelligence?!" Lynn looked at me with wide eyes. "No wonder you're so smart, your intelligence is insane!"

"And what is this luck!? This has got to be a joke!" Keith laughed to himself. "Come on everyone, let's pray to goddess Eris while we're at it, with all this luck we should be able to pray for anything!"

Just like that, everyone started treating me like I'm the prophet of Eris.

"Please, please don't do that, don't pray to me… How about getting some coffee instead? Come on, let's have some coffee."

I took out the mugs as I smiled at the 3 of them.

---

It was midnight when we arrived in the guild. There's still a lot of adventurers hanging around. Most of them are dead drunk, but there are some who just arrived from a quest like we do.

"Good evening Kazuma sama," Luna welcomed me as always. Then she looked at my temporary party members. "So, how goes the party switch?"

"It was amazing, Kazuma sama was a great mentor," Taylor said, stepping forward to hand her his adventurer card. "Our goblin extermination mission turned into Rookie Killer assassination mission."

"Congratulations on killing the rookie killer," Luna said.

With that, we filed in our adventurer cards for her to process. The result came in:

Kazuma: 5 goblins

Taylor: 7 goblins

Rin: 9 goblins

Keith: 9 goblins and the Rookie Killer

"Ayy, so Keith got the rookie killer in the end," I gave Keith a thumbs up. "Congratulations Keith!"

The archer rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, it was thanks to you and Lynn though..."

"Yeah, it was all thanks to you Kazuma! I would never thought about using wind curtain like that!"

After a slight banter I looked around in slight confusion. "Umm, Dust and the girls hasn't arrived yet? What mission did they take anyway?"

Luna frowned a little and shook her head. "It was just a frog extermination mission,"

The moment she said that, the guild door opened. Behind it, was a truly miserable sight. There's a very slimy Aqua walking with a flat look on her face while carrying an unconscious Darkness behind her back. Beside her is Dust, carrying a very, very slimy Megumin looking like he just had the worst day of his life.

"Give me your card, I'll take it from here," I said in genuine pity.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for doubting you… It must be hard…"

"Yeah, I know, just take them to the bath and clean yourself up, okay?"

"Y-yes…"

The guild door closed and I turned back to Taylor and the others.

"You see… My party members are not that… capable of making a wise and calculated judgement…" I told them. "They are also extremely specialized in what they're at, kinda like the opposite of me, know what I mean?"

"I understand," Taylor said.

"Take care of Dust from now on, okay?"

"We will, thank you for everything, Kazuma san."