A Dragon's Curse Upon This Illogical Word! Chapter 2

Edited by: Priapus, Marethyu

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Watching the sunset in the distance while walking on the path toward my first quest, I hum quietly to myself. I might have to camp outside tonight. And here I was, hoping I'd make it back before night…

The gold pouch I stole had only seven hundred eris, and a room at the cheapest tavern is a thousand for a single night. I only had five hundred after joining the guild, and personally, I'd rather not steal anymore. It makes me feel bad.

Which is ironic, all things considered, but I can't help it.

So I decided to go on a quest that'll cover my expenses for a few days at least—hunting what they call a 'Rookie Killer'. It had four stars on the board, and they're paying twenty-five thousand eris for it, which is more than enough.

But I'm not going to hunt it down blindly. I asked for a bestiary, a map, and some general advice from the receptionist. Her words of wisdom were telling me to quit and raise my level first before trying to face a Rookie Killer, which was a little annoying to me because, frankly, I've fought and killed far worse. I can't expect her to know that, though. Her concern was unneeded but appreciated.

Rookie Killers are black sabertooth-like beasts that aren't particularly dangerous to anything above beginners. They prey on weaker and inexperienced adventurers, thus earning them that title. Beyond that, they're simple monsters. They shouldn't be too tough to beat.

I know I'm not as strong as I'm supposed to be, but I'm still skilled enough in certain things, such as sensing energy. So far, whatever's 'dangerous' to me is too far away. There is one thing that's kind of close, but it's stationary, whatever it is, and it's in the opposite direction.

Besides, I'm planning to map out the surroundings, create an easy escape route in case things go south, and observe this Rookie Killer before I try to hunt it down, hopefully by trapping it somehow. I'd like to see what it can and can't do. The bestiary can only tell you so much.

I'm confident I can defeat it even with level 1 magic. It's not like I have to use brute force. It's a mindless beast— it can be outsmarted.

Then, once I'm done, I'll camp out and return to Axel early in the morning. I'll have more than enough money for food — since I can feel hungry again for some reason — a room, and time to hit the library. I'm still unfamiliar with the world. Studying it wouldn't hurt.

I'll admit, I want to see how they came up with these stat card things—as far as I'm aware, it's a very, very primitive form of a system. It probably doesn't compare to what I have, much less my mother's or Reid's.

Though, the biggest question is… what should I be doing here? My mother said she wanted us to test these systems, but that can't be the only reason, right? Because if that's the case, she'd have thrown us into worlds we were familiar with.

Am I supposed to conquer this world? Maybe save it? There is a demon king, so perhaps I'm expected to defeat them. But she also said she didn't care what we did to the world, so I'm admittedly at a loss.

"I hate it when she's so cryptic…" I mutter to myself with a sigh. "Would it hurt you to be clearer?"

I'll have to think about it later once I get a better understanding of the world I'm in.

I wonder what Crimson's doing? I hope he's having fun now that he's out of his funk.

I continue walking to my destination in silence, taking the map out of my jacket's pocket to ensure I'm in the right place once I stop at a forest entrance. Verdant Woods is a place where a lot of low-level monsters typically reside, like goblins and slimes. Only recently has one of those Rookie Killers been seen here.

I think I should look for some of these weaker monsters first. Raising my level a bit before trying to kill that thing would be wise. I can sense some deeper into the forest, west of where I am now. Goblins. Six of them. The Rookie Killer is in the opposite direction.

Both are pretty close. I should be able to finish the quest before ten o'clock.

As I head toward the goblins, I pick up the pace, making sure to stay as quiet as possible by avoiding anything that could alert hostile entities to my location. I don't sense anything, but that is not an excuse to be lazy. I'm not taking any chances.

Once I'm close enough, I observe them from above as they try and fail to make a proper campfire in some old ruins. They seem to be the primitive type of goblins, not the intelligent ones I typically see in cities under the clan's rule. Haven't seen these in a while.

I silently cast one ice shuriken for each in one hand while charging up a chain lightning spell in the other. They don't see, hear, or notice anything out of the ordinary, and once they're all close to each other, I unleash the lightning attack, knowing for sure it won't kill them, seeing how weak my magic is right now.

But it is more than enough to stun them long enough for the shurikens to hit them all in the head, piercing their skulls and ending their lives in the blink of an eye. Instantly, I get a message from the system telling me I've leveled up.

"Once?" I murmur in disappointment, getting to the ground. "Well, they are just goblins."

I investigate the ruins more, hoping I find something I could use. Thankfully, I spot a chest up against a mossy stone wall some distance away from the campfire, prompting me to smile. I skip over to it, kicking it a bit harshly to make sure it's not a mimic, then open it.

Nothing but cobwebs, rotten food, and broken weapons.

Right, negative luck. Why did I expect I'd get anything? Why did I even bring my hopes up? This always happens to me in real life and in video games. I wish it were a mimic. That would've at least leveled me up a little.

The moment I close the chest, I sense a huge storm of magic in the distance, followed by a massive explosion from the exact same location. The shockwave reaches where I am, pushing me slightly and snuffing out the campfire. I blink, seeing a mushroom cloud forming where that was.

What the hell was that? Who would use such a powerful destruction spell in this place? Was there something I missed? I can't sense properly— that spell is leaving so much magic in the air that it's interfering.

…I guess my skill in energy sensing was nerfed to a degree.

I should probably see what that was about. I'm both too curious that I don't want to miss it and worried that someone got hurt. The Rookie Killer can wait a bit. However, the last time I sensed it, it was in that same direction…

…I don't know why, but I suddenly have a bad feeling about this.

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– Kazuma –

This was supposed to be a simple quest.

Go into the verdant forest, take care of a kobold camp, and get out. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Even Kazuma himself – the 'weakest' in his party – could've taken care of it alone with a few arrows.

But of course, his party— these useless fucks decided that was too boring, and the midget decided to blow up the entire fucking camp and a chunk of the forest to smithereens. Because she would die if she didn't use her explosion spell apparently.

And honestly? That would've been fine. A bit too destructive, yeah, but nobody owned the forest, so they wouldn't have to pay anything to anyone. Kazuma had been surprised at first and had yelled at Megumin for doing something too dangerous next to them, but ultimately, no harm was done.

That was until the Rookie Killer showed up.

"What are you doing?" Megumin asked him far too casually as he ran for dear life. "Go faster. It'll catch us at this rate."

"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed at the piece of shit on his back. "This is your fault! Your stupid spell attracted it!"

"Don't call my glorious explosion 'stupid'!" She scolded. "It wiped out all the kobolds, didn't it? You should be praising me instead!"

Kazuma nearly threw her away but had enough self-restraint and morals not to do something that horrible, as tempting as it was. His new life in this fantasy world fucking sucked. He was broke, had a party worse than his enemies, and had shitty stats that weren't worth anything.

Just why was he saddled with these idiots? Why was he still around them in the first place?

Dumbass sub-50 IQ priestess, masochist crusader, and this impulsive dipshit who was hellbent on blowing everything up. Only they could turn a one-star mission into four-stars. It was almost as if he was cursed despite his high luck.

It was a simple damned quest. Why couldn't he have one nice day where he earned enough to not sleep in the stables? He couldn't catch a fucking break. If the Rookie Killer tearing him apart weren't a terrible way to go, he would've accepted death. Unfortunately, he feared pain a tad too much.

Kazuma really wanted to go back to his hikki-neet days. At least he had only been depressed. Now, he was broke, in constant life-or-death struggles, and depressed.

"Oi, it's getting too close," Megumin said, looking behind her. "K-Kazuma? It's getting really close!"

"I'm running as fast as I can!" He hollered back. "That useless priestess didn't even cast a speed buff on me before she took off!"

Truly, who needed enemies with friends like these?

"Kazu– HiyaaAAA!" She screamed in his ears. "It took my cloak! It took my cloak!"

"SHUT UP!"

He could hear it snarling and roaring right behind him, slowly inching as he tried to confuse it by taking as many sharp turns as possible, but the thing wouldn't give up. It relentlessly chased them without a sign of tiring, and Kazuma knew the moment it caught up to them, they were dead.

The rest of his party was nowhere to be seen. Both Aqua and Darkness had run away, with the former dragging the latter away because god knew what that woman would do if left unsupervised near a powerful monster.

But then that brain-dead bitch hadn't even had the courtesy to buff them in any way, shape, or form. Kazuma was sure that with a well-placed 'god blow' Aqua could actually beat it in one hit. But she was too stupid and too cowardly to try to pull off such a thing.

"K-Kazuma! Over there!" Megumin weakly pointed in a direction. "It shouldn't follow us outside the fores— EIYEEEE! IT TOUCHED MY BUTT!"

Kazuma barely dodged a lunge and took another sharp turn, running as fast as his legs could take him. He could see it—the exit! In fact, he could see both Aqua and Darkness out there! They were close—so close!

He leaped through the bushes and evaded another lunge, tightly holding onto the girl on his back, making it outside. Kazuma felt a grin of relief as soon as he saw his other two party members.

As he took a few more steps, Kazuma nearly dropped to his knees. He quickly looked back, and the Rookie Killer had stopped right at the edge of the forest, growling before slowly retreating with hatred in its eyes.

A huge sigh of relief left him, making him sit down with a desperate, happy laugh. They'd done it; they'd survived a Rookie Killer encounter. These things were too common in Axel. The guild seriously needed high-level adventurers to clear them out.

"Nice job, Kazuma!" Megumin praised. "Could've run faster, though."

"One more word, and I swear to god I'm feeding you to it."

"I'm sorry."

"And you!" He shouted at Aqua. "Why the hell didn't you buff—"

Kazuma froze in fear as he saw Aqua's genuine look of despair on her face. She wasn't looking at him, but something that was directly behind him. He turned his head around, seeing the Rookie Killer leaping at him from the forest.

In that instant, he felt the same way he had when that tractor had been about to hit him, but unlike that time, the threat was real. The monster opened its jaw, aiming to tear his head out from his shoulders in one bite. A very painful way to die, seeing that it wouldn't be quick.

Kazuma reacted. He pushed Megumin away, genuinely not wanting her to suffer the brunt of something so terrible, because for as stupid and infuriating as she was, Kazuma didn't want her to die, not like this.

And perhaps he felt the same way about his party. Perhaps deep down, he did like them after all.

Kazuma closed his eyes and braced for a gruesome end which never came. He heard a loud 'thud' as something crashed into the monster before it could kill him, and opening his eyes, he saw the Rookie Killer to his right, growling at something that wasn't him.

The rustle of the bushes made Kazuma look in fear. What the hell was that? Was it an adventurer? At this hour? No one was desperate enough to be doing quests this late beside them. Maybe another monster?

That fear turned into awe as the most beautiful woman he had seen in his life walked out instead, raising her arm at the monster with a focused look. Short, neck-length black hair, blood-red eyes, and dressed too well and professionally to be some random adventurer. Or rather too modern to be from this world. Black dress shirt with a white vest, white jacket, and black gloves.

Another one like him? No, she was too otherworldly to be from Earth. She looked more like a goddess than Aqua did.

…Her rack was massive. Dayum.

"So much for trying to trap it." She muttered softly, then glanced at him. "Are you okay?"

"Eeh? Huh?" Kazuma mumbled, too enchanted to respond properly. "Erm, y-yeah…"

"Good." She nodded. "I'll handle this."

The Rookie Killer's roar shook Kazuma out of his shock, making him grab Megumin and rush towards his party. The monster was too focused on the girl to be paying them any mind. It circled around, but she was calm and collected, waiting for it to make a move.

When it did lunge at her, it suddenly got hurt as several cuts appeared on its body, breaking its balance and making it fall down. The girl then waved her arm and several orbs of pure lightning formed, electrocuting the monster and freezing it in place.

For about a second, before it broke free and continued charging at her. The girl, not one bit perturbed, danced around the Rookie Killer, side-stepping away and letting it fall on spikes made of ice that she had made earlier, piercing through its hide and flesh easily.

The monster tried to charge at her again despite the pain, but the girl continued to easily avoid it and strike back in the form of quick traps or powerful elemental spells like fireballs and rock slings.

The only thing the Rookie Killer had was its endurance and relentlessness, but eventually, it got slower and weaker as the girl wore it down until it was too tired and wounded to attack, dying to a sword of ice that dug deep into its neck.

All of them watched the sight in shocked silence. Who was she? Some high-level adventurer? What kind of spells were those? She was casting everything silently without any chants. Was that some kind of skill one could obtain? Because so far, every skill Kazuma had seen needed to be said out loud. Could she be someone who also reincarnated, and this was her unique skill?

…That could be it, but she looked so used to it. She probably was someone who reincarnated ages ago, right?

"Wow…" Aqua breathed in awe. "She's so strong! Who is she?!"

…Nevermind.

"I've certainly never seen a mage that fights so well before." Darkness added. "She's quick on her feet and very calm. She must be highly experienced."

"Meh, explosions magic is better." Megumin wasn't as impressed.

"Wait, you don't know?" Kazuma looked at Aqua. "She must be someone who reincarnated! That gotta be a unique skill or something, right?"

"I dunno," Aqua shrugged. "I've never seen her before. Also, she feels kinda weird. I don't think she's from Earth."

"More of your crazy talk?" The Archwizard questioned. "She's clearly some imperial mage or something."

"I don't know." Darkness disagreed. "If she were, we would've heard of her."

"Um…" The girl looked at them, a little uncomfortable. "You know I can hear you, right?"

"Ah, sorry." The crusader responded first with a blush. "Thank you so much for saving our friends, Miss. We owe you."

"It's nothing." She waved it off. "I was hunting that thing in the first place. You're lucky that I got here in time."

She has to be in the big leagues. Kazuma thought to himself.

"By the way." The girl looked directly at Megumin. "You're a mage, yes? Do you know anything about that explosion just now?"

Oh, no. Kazuma froze, slowly glancing at the smug Archwizard. Please don't.

"Heh, of course I do." The Crimson Demon responded. "I did it."

For fuck's sake.

"You did?" Her eyebrows shot up. "Why? What kind of beast were you four battling?"

All of them were dead silent, feeling the embarrassment creeping up to them. None of them had the balls to look at the girl in the eyes as Megumin, now realizing how stupid the stunt she'd pulled was, answered that question slowly.

"U-um…" She cleared her throat. "A camp of kobolds…"

The girl paused, gradually processed those words, and then replied with a single word.

"What."

She shouldn't have saved him. The physical pain of being torn into tiny fleshy chunks would've been tamer than the overwhelming shame he was feeling.

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– Carmine –

"You should not be using such spells for trivial targets." I scold the little girl. "Especially when the damage is not easily reversed. You may be young, but as an archwizard, you should know better than that."

"W-who do you think you're speaking to?!" The archwizard tries to look tough. She fails. "I'm the great wizard of the Crimson Demon clan, Megumin! Master of explosions and—"

"If you were a master, you'd know that casting a powerful spell like that when your body isn't developed enough to handle it is not wise."

"It is developed!" She blushes.

"Then how come you drop motionless after casting one explosion?" I challenge.

"W-well…"

"Fact of the matter is, you must not use such a spell when you're not ready."

"B-but if I don't cast it at least once a day, I die!"

"Who told you that?" I raise a brow. "Unless you were cursed or suffer from Overflow Syndrome, such a thing is not possible."

"Grr…" Megumin growls non-threateningly. Honestly, she reminds me of some of my younger siblings. So needlessly stubborn.

Honestly, she's too troublesome. After they explained everything, we sat down and made a campfire for the night after they insisted I spend the night with them. Admittedly, I don't quite trust them yet, so I won't be sleeping, but I'll keep watch until the daytime.

I leveled up quite a bit after killing that Rookie Killer. It's not as powerful as I thought, but considering I fought it in a clear area instead of the forest, I had an advantage. Seven levels at once, so now I'm at level nine. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get new perks, though. Quests? I didn't get any as of yet. Is it by reaching certain levels? Perhaps.

Satou Kazuma the Adventurer, Megumin the Archwizard, Aqua the Priestess, and Darkness the Crusader. A party of four adventurers who recently joined forces together to take on quests together. If that isn't an intro to your typical DnD session, I don't know what is.

This little girl specifically is what I've found most problematic. Using a high-level spell when she doesn't have the mana reserves to back it up is not only dangerous but very, very impractical and makes her a burden on her group.

Becoming completely paralyzed after something like that is asking to be killed or captured. The massive amount of mana let out by that spell would attract more monsters from tens of kilometers away to your location. Plus, forcing your teammates to defend you when you're helpless and immobile… I can't imagine the guilt I'd feel afterward.

She has the potential to be a very powerful mage; I can tell that from a glance. But she desperately needs discipline.

"Overflow Syndrome?" Kazuma parrots.

"It's a magical disease where one produces more mana than their body can handle." I quickly explain. "I can tell that she's well and good. She's producing mana at a regular rate, which is why she should be casting other, less intensive and cost-heavy spells."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I-I don't know any other spell!"

…

"...Pardon me?"

"The explosion spell is the only spell I know."

"Learn other spells, then. Are you crazy?"

"No."

"Why would you compromise yourself like this?"

Is she stupid? She could learn so many spells with that class, and her mana pool isn't too shabby. She could be a genuine powerhouse if she truly puts her mind to it. What is she doing?

"I walk the path of explosions and explosions only!" She announces, looking too proud of herself. "I will never learn any other spell for as long as I live!"

What the hell is wrong with her?

"This is only severely limiting your potential." I try to argue.

"I don't care."

"But–"

"Stop," Kazuma says. "You're not getting through her. Trust me, we tried."

"Ah…"

You know what? He's right; it's not my problem. As stupid as that is, I can at least respect her conviction. If she wants to do that, then who am I to stop her? She's not my responsibility, and I certainly don't care if she's hellbent on slowly killing herself like that.

There will come a day when she regrets her decisions. I hope she can recover when that day comes.

"Here." The blond woman, now known as Darkness, hands me a bowl of stew. "There's more if you're up for seconds."

"Thank you." I nod, taking it. "Still, I hope I'm not intruding on you all."

"Not at all." Darkness denied. "I always make sure to stock up on extra supplies. There's more than enough for everyone."

"If you insist."

It would be rude of me to decline their offer, and frankly, I want them to feel like they've paid their debts as fast as I can. Then they'll stop bothering me, and I can be doing things on my own—in peace.

Though I'll admit, these four are… interesting, to say the least. From what I can gather, the boy, Satou Kazuma, is apparently someone who has reincarnated here from Earth. And considering the name, he's from Japan—a funny coincidence. It's the place my mother was born. I'm sure it's a different Earth, though.

Also, he keeps looking at me. It's slowly making me uncomfortable. What? Is it something on my face?

The blue-haired goddess is… strange? It's clear that she has some suspicions, but it almost feels like she doesn't quite care. How is it eluding her? It should be obvious— most gods and goddesses know about the Ama clan, even those who aren't under our rule.

Am I that far away from my home world?

The youngest of the four, while obviously a child, is one of the most irresponsible archwizards I've ever seen. Casting a powerful spell like that on a camp of kobolds is unnecessary, impractical, and stupid. It wasn't even cool. Someone has to scold her and teach her not to do this anymore.

Seriously, who would teach a child a spell that destructive? Are they out of their minds? It's not like they can instantly reverse the damage, either.

The blond one seems the most normal out of the four. She's well-spoken and polite enough that I don't particularly dislike being around her. Back at the guild, she looked the least depressed and strange out of them, didn't she?

On second thought, she seems rather well-off. Relatively speaking, her armor and weapon are high quality. A daughter of merchants? A noble?

"So then, Ms. Carmine." Darkness starts, sitting next to me. "Where are you from? I haven't seen such attire before. Are you from another kingdom?"

"You could say that," I answer, not wanting to give too much. "I arrived at Axel earlier today and joined the Adventurer's Guild."

"You're a newbie?" Kazuma looks at me strangely. "There's no way. You handled that Rookie Killer like it was nothing."

"I had prior experience," I respond vaguely. "I only just officially joined the guild. Here."

I take my adventurer's card and give it to him.

"Huh… You're really just starting out." He relents. "Why do you have negative luck?"

"I don't know." My mood sours the moment I'm reminded. "I think it might be a curse or something?"

"Oh? A curse, you say?" Aqua stands up, puffing her chest. "Then let me, Goddess Aqua, bless and cleanse you of such demonic aliments!"

"Wait, no! You idiot!"

Ignoring Kazuma's words, she casts a spell.

"Purification!"

A soothing blue light envelops me for a moment, making me blink a few times. I don't particularly feel any different, and checking on my Adventurer card told me that the stats also didn't change. Still at negative two.

"Didn't work." I say.

"W-what? That's impossible!" She denies. "Purification! Purification!"

"You realize doing it again won't change the result, yes?" I raise a brow, watching her cast the same spell over and over. "...You can stop now."

"B-but that… can't be…" Aqua sits back down and then… starts crying. "I'm so useless! A joke! I can't even dispel a single curse! I wanna go home!"

Is she for real?

"I-it's really not that bad. It's been this way for most of my life." I try to soothe her, feeling kind of bad. "It's fine, okay? I don't really mind it. I appreciate you trying to help, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Trust me, it's nothing." I give her a reassuring smile. "Let's just… not cry now, okay?"

"S-she's so nice…" Aqua notes, then glares at Kazuma. "Why can't you be like her, huh? She appreciates my efforts like a good person! You worthless Hikki-neet!"

"Shut up." Kazuma covers his face in what looks to me like embarrassment. "Please shut the fuck up."

"You don't have to fight." I quip gently, sipping from my bowl. "Let's all enjoy dinner and then—"

I freeze as I taste the stew, or, more accurately, lack thereof.

I looked at my bowl, and instead of the nice-smelling, delicious-looking beef stew, it is water—crystal clear, filled with meat chunks and chopped vegetables that hung in it without even clouding it, as if mocking me. Water. It's water. Flavorless, depressing, and painful.

Am I hallucinating? Do people here like drinking water with meat in it? Where did my soup go? How did this happen? Is this my luck telling me to go die in a hole while taking away my food?

"...Um." In shock, I continue staring at it. "Did you give me the wrong bowl?"

"Ah…" Darkness cleared her throat, looking just as embarrassed as Kazuma.

"Aqua probably purified it by accident." Megumin helpfully supplies. "She does that sometimes."

…Oh wow. Would you look at that? It's my urge to kill someone. I haven't felt that for a few eons now.

"Ah, I see." I look at Aqua. "...I see."

"Uh, Ms. Carmine?" Kazuma looks at me with a pale face. "You okay? Your eyes look a little different."

"Do they?" I give him a smile. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing."

"I-I'm sorry." Aqua apologizes, looking terrified. "I-I really didn't mean to."

My gaze makes her flinch and cower, but then I let out a deep sigh, relaxing my muscles.

Calm down. Calm down. It's just soup, Carmine. I know you hate it when people mess with your food, but you can't be blowing up over practically nothing. You're not a child anymore. You're an adult. Grow up.

"Can I have another?"

"O-of course!" Darkness hurries, pouring me another bowl.

See? It's that easy—nothing to get pissy about. Relax.

"Thanks." I take the bowl.

As the silence slowly sat in, the awkwardness followed suit. I hate socializing so much…

I'm starting to dislike the world already, but that's not fair to it. This is only my first day here after all. I'll probably have a better time once I've properly settled in. That's how it works, right? It's going to be okay.

Besides this little hiccup, today was a successful day at the end. I can't wait to go back and report the quest's success. I'm sure selling the Rookie's Killer's hide would earn me a little more extra money.

Yes, everything will be fine. I have be to positive about this.

…So why am I feeling so much dread?