It was the day after we’d defeated Beldia.
I went to the Guild Hall alone, mulling over where we could go from here.
I was tasked with defeating the Demon King. But that meant Beldia was just the first in a parade of tough opponents I would have to face.
And if I did beat the Demon King—I could have one wish.
Or I could give up the whole thing and just try to live a quiet, comfortable life in this fantasy world.
…The answer was obvious.
I was a weak member of a weak class. I’d won that last battle literally by sheer Luck, and I couldn’t rely on a plot contrivance like that again.
The thing to do was to live in peace, avoiding any danger.
I could use the knowledge I had from Japan to make something sellable.
I’d have a nice, safe job. Maybe do a simple quest now and then for some stimulation.
Those were the thoughts I was lost in as I arrived at the Guild Hall.
A nauseating smell hit me as I opened the door—a cloying mixture of sweat and alcohol.
Many of the town’s adventurers had been at the bar since noon, celebrating their defeat of one of the Demon King’s generals.
“Oh! Hey, Kazuma, you’re late!” Aqua called cheerfully to me as I entered the hall. “The party’s already started! Go get your money—pretty much everyone else here has already claimed their reward for beating the Dullahan. Myself included, of course! You can see how much of it they’ve drunk already, though.”
I didn’t understand why she seemed so pleased until she opened her purse and showed me how much she’d made as a reward. She just laughed and scratched her head, apparently having a genuinely good time.
Who had drunk their reward, exactly?
What was the drinking age in this world, anyway?
Most of the adventurers in the Guild Hall were so smashed they could barely walk.
I headed for the counter, skirting around the drunks.
Darkness and Megumin were already there.
“Oh, Kazuma, you’re here. Go get your reward.”
“We have been waiting for you, Kazuma. Listen! Darkness is being very mean to me. She says I am too young to drink.”
“What do you m-mean?! That’s not—!”
I left the two of them to banter, heading for the counter where the clerk stood.
I knew this clerk by now. When she saw me, for some reason, an unreadable expression came over her face.
“Ah, Mr.…Kazuma Satou, isn’t it? We’ve been waiting for you.”
They had?
Something about the way she spoke made me wary.
“Ahem… First, for you two…”
She handed one small bag to Darkness and another to Megumin.
Hey, where’s my bag?
Before I could ask, the clerk said, “Um… Ahem. Actually, Mr. Kazuma, a special reward has been prepared for your party.”
“Why just us?”
Practically before the question was out of my mouth, someone shouted: “’Cause you’re the MVPs! Without you, we’d never have beaten that Dullahan!” A chorus of drunken agreement sounded around the room.
Wow… These guys…
I’d spent so long slaving away in this world, I hadn’t realized how good it could be to you.
I was to accept the special reward on behalf of the four of us.
The clerk cleared her throat and began…
“Ahem! Kazuma Satou and his party, for their service above and beyond the call of duty in the defeat of the Demon King’s general Beldia…are hereby awarded three hundred million eris!”
“Th-three—?” All four of us nearly choked.
The whole room had gone dead silent.
“Hey, Mr. Three-hundred-millionaire! How about a round?”
“Oh, Kazuma, my dear Kazuma! Won’t you get me a little something to wet my whistle?”
One adventurer after another begged for a drink.
That reminded me…
“Hey, Darkness! Megumin! I’m thinking about scaling back our adventuring. With this windfall, I’d like to live the peaceful, safe life from here on out!”
“W-wait, but that means no more powerful enemies! What am I supposed to do? And whatever happened to defeating the Demon King?!”
“I, too, must object! I joined your party in order to defeat the Demon King and become known as the world’s strongest spell-caster!”
The noise in the Guild Hall threatened to drown out their agitated voices.
The clerk handed me a slip of paper with an apologetic look.
It had an awful lot of zeroes on it.
Was the paper this world’s equivalent of a check?
Aqua, in high spirits, tottered up next to me and glanced at the paper.
“Ahem, Mr. Kazuma—as it were, Ms. Aqua—the water you summoned washed away some of the buildings near the town gate and caused significant flood damage, and, well—you did succeed in defeating the Demon King’s general, and no one would expect you to reimburse the full amount for damages, but they would like you to pay…at least a part…”
With that, the clerk turned away from us and retreated into a back room.
Megumin looked at the slip of paper in my hand and darted away.
I caught Aqua by the collar just as she was turning to flee, too.
All the other adventurers, guessing the size of the bill by the looks on our faces, made a show of minding their own business.
Darkness tapped her fingers on my shoulder as she did the math:
“A three-hundred-million-eris reward…less restitution of three hundred and forty million… Kazuma. I think for tomorrow’s quest, we’d better find a very strong and very profitable enemy.”
A wide smile crept over her face as she thought about it.
Was I going to have to spend the rest of my life in this insane world with these useless party members?
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and resolved to defeat the Demon King.
I had to get out of this good-for-nothing world!
Afterword
First, thank you for picking up this book.
Second, nice to meet you! I’m Natsume Akatsuki.
Konosuba started life on a website called “I’m Gonna Be an Author!” and then Sneaker Bunko got in touch with me about turning it into a real book.
I can’t even say how grateful I am.
Because that’s how this book started, some of my readers probably already have an inkling where things are going from here.
That makes things difficult for me as a writer—I want to exceed my readers’ expectations. So there’s a good chance the story in the book will turn out differently from the one on the web. (I’ve already made several such changes in this volume.)
So if you think you know where things will go, watch out. You’ll be reading along, and then one day, bang! Kazuma is heating some canned coffee over a fire when it explodes and kills him dead! Next volume, new main character. That’s just the sort of crazy thing that could happen in the novel version. (Note: That is not actually going to happen.)
Let me say a few words about the story itself.
These are not the adventures of some kind, cool, butt-kicking hero. Nor are they the tales of a boy who gains great power and then achieves his goal after trials and hardship.
No, the main character of this book is a guy who might help someone if he happens to notice them, depending on the circumstances and how he’s feeling that day. A guy who doesn’t always get it right, who wants a cute girlfriend, and who would give up doing anything productive if he came into a lot of money.
That’s who we’re dealing with here. Someone average. Human. A character trying to deal with the unjust realities of a harsh world even as he struggles along as the leader of a group of heroines, each of whom has a distinguishing personality trait.
He’s nothing special—he’s not the Chosen One or whatever. He doesn’t have a great hidden power and so on. He’s a little luckier than most people, is all.
Whether he fights or flees, he’s learning about life one big, bad enemy at a time.
…Actually, I guess he doesn’t learn much at all.
People don’t change that easily, after all.
But I’m sure he’ll prove his worth by the end of the story. Aren’t you?
Back to the point of this afterword.
To all the editors, proofreaders, salespeople, and designers at Sneaker Bunko.
To Kurone Mishima for his wonderful illustrations, as well as my editor K, who had nothing but patience for an author who barely knew his right hand from his left.
This book exists because of your unflagging support and your refusal to give up on an exceptionally troublesome writer.
Thank you all so, so much.
I don’t know what I can say to repay you for how wonderful you helped make this book, except that I’ll work hard to make the next one even better.
Writing well may be the best way I can give back to you.
To all those who read the book in its web form and offered their encouragement and support.
And above all, to those who picked this book when they needed something to read. You have my deepest gratitude.
Natsume Akatsuki
