Chapter 366

Seeing Haruto suddenly hesitate, Megumin immediately grew anxious.

For a moment, she considered whether she should tell him the actual number, afraid that the enormous cost might scare him off. But even if she kept quiet, there was no way something this important could stay hidden for long.

"Learning Explosion requires fifty skill points."

Kazuma answered for her without the slightest hesitation.

"Well? That’s a lot, isn’t it? I’d seriously recommend thinking it over first."

"With fifty skill points, you could learn a whole bunch of other useful skills."

Haruto stared at Megumin with an expression of exaggerated "shock."

"It costs fifty skill points?! That many?"

Megumin’s expression immediately fell. Even the brilliant crimson glow in her eyes seemed to dim.

Clearly, she had already concluded that Haruto was probably going to give up on learning Explosion.

Then, just when she was sinking into disappointment, Haruto continued.

"Good thing I have more than fifty skill points available. I can learn it immediately."

He patted his chest with a deliberately relieved expression.

Megumin’s head snapped up.

She grabbed Haruto’s arm with both hands and shook it excitedly.

"W-What did you just say?! You have fifty skill points?!"

"Really?! You’re not lying to me, are you?!"

"That’s wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"

"Then let’s go right now! Right now! We can’t waste another second!"

Megumin immediately tried to drag Haruto toward the exit.

She needed to get him to learn Explosion before he had a chance to regret his decision.

Kazuma remained rooted to the spot, completely dumbfounded.

Fifty skill points.

That was fifty skill points!

He had worked hard for all this time and barely earned a handful.

Yet Haruto had registered as an adventurer later than any of them and could casually produce fifty skill points as though it were nothing.

Kazuma slowly raised his head toward the ceiling and let out a deep sigh.

Was the difference between people really this enormous?

Now that her debt had been paid, Aqua also decided to come along. It would be a convenient opportunity to complete her agreement with Haruto.

Kazuma eventually pulled himself out of his depression.

"Wait. If we’re going outside the city anyway, why don’t we pick up a quest while we’re at it?"

"We’re already making the trip. Might as well earn some money along the way, right?"

He and Aqua were still sleeping in a stable every night, forced to endure the stench of horse manure and constant insect bites.

Their earnings from the cabbage harvest technically gave them enough to move somewhere better now.

But they still didn’t have much money to spare, so naturally Kazuma wanted to earn as much as possible.

"There probably aren’t any quests suitable for you right now," Kagura suddenly said.

"Huh?"

Kazuma stared at her in confusion.

"Why not? Aren’t there supposed to be tons of low-level monsters around Axel? How could there be no suitable quests?"

Megumin, Darkness, and Aqua all looked toward Kagura curiously as well.

"I heard one of the Demon King’s generals moved into the area, and all the weaker monsters were frightened away."

"So naturally there aren’t many low-level quests left."

Kagura explained what she had heard.

Earlier, Haruto had originally intended to bring her and Kanna along to accept another quest, only to discover that the board contained almost nothing except several high-difficulty requests, and none of them even involved monsters.

Curious, they had asked Luna about it and learned the reason.

"Seriously?!"

Kazuma’s expression changed dramatically.

He immediately rushed toward the quest board at the front of the guild and began checking it carefully.

The board, which had once been packed with notices, now held only a sparse handful.

Kazuma examined them one by one, his face growing paler with every sheet.

They really were all high-difficulty quests.

"How did this happen...?"

He muttered lifelessly, looking as though his soul had been sucked out of his body.

He had been hoping to move out of the stable as soon as possible.

Now it looked like that dream was going to remain impossible for a while.

At least until the Demon King’s general was driven away, he and Aqua would have to continue sleeping among the horses.

Worse still, if there were no quests available, their money would disappear quickly.

Forget moving out.

Soon enough, simply feeding themselves might become a problem.

Kazuma weakly waved one hand.

"Fine. If there aren’t any quests, let’s just head outside the city."

Depressed as he was, he figured getting out for a while might at least help clear his head.

The group left the Adventurers Guild together.

Once outside, Haruto spoke up.

"Since Megumin is going to cast Explosion, we’ll need to travel a decent distance from Axel. Walking would take too long, so let’s use the carriage."

With that, he snapped his fingers.

A moment later, Rapidash emerged from the Gourmet Restaurant, pulling the carriage behind it.

"Whoa! It’s that awesome horse!"

Aqua cried out, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Rapidash.

Unable to resist, she reached toward its flaming mane.

The moment her hand approached, Rapidash irritably tossed its head.

Aqua yanked her hand back in alarm.

Megumin and Darkness were equally fascinated by the Pokémon.

"Come on. We’ll ride outside the city."

Haruto gestured for Kazuma and the others to climb aboard.

Kagura and Kanna had already taken their seats.

Naturally, Kazuma’s group had no objections.

Given the choice between riding in such a striking carriage and walking, nobody was going to choose walking.

The four climbed inside one after another.

The carriage was surprisingly spacious, with soft cushions lining the seats and plenty of room to sit comfortably.

Kazuma took the seat beside the window.

His eyes remained fixed on Rapidash outside.

The longer he stared, the more familiar it seemed.

That blazing mane and tail, that unmistakable body shape...

Something about the horse kept nagging at his memory.

Then it suddenly clicked.

’Wait! Isn’t that Rapidash from Pokémon?!’

Back on Earth, Kazuma had played plenty of Pokémon games.

Naturally, he knew Rapidash.

But...

That was impossible.

This was another world!

A world filled with goddesses, Demon Kings, monsters, and magic.

Why would Pokémon exist here?

Kazuma vigorously shook his head.

He had to be imagining things.

Maybe this world simply happened to have a monster that looked almost exactly like Rapidash.

The world was enormous, after all. It wasn’t completely impossible for two unrelated creatures to resemble each other.

"Kazuma, is something wrong?"

Darkness noticed that he had been staring at Rapidash for a long time, his expression constantly changing, and looked at him curiously.

"It’s nothing."

"It just reminds me of a creature I knew back home called Rapidash. But obviously that can’t be it. This isn’t the Pokémon world."

Kazuma explained casually.

"It is Rapidash."

Haruto replied calmly.

"Oh! So this world has a monster called Rapidash too?"

Kazuma scratched his head.

"What a coincidence. It even has the same name as the creature I knew."

"I mean it literally is the Fire Horse Pokémon, Rapidash."

Haruto turned toward Kazuma and emphasized each word.

The carriage fell silent.

The smile froze on Kazuma’s face.

He stared at Haruto with wide eyes, completely dumbfounded.

Several seconds passed before his brain finally caught up.

Kazuma abruptly shot to his feet—

THUD!

—and smashed his head straight into the roof of the carriage.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow!"

Kazuma clutched his head and grimaced in pain.

After recovering slightly, he pointed frantically toward Rapidash.

"Wait, wait! What did you just say?! That thing is a Pokémon?! As in that Pokémon?! The kind you catch and use in battles?!"

"That’s right."

Haruto nodded.

Kazuma’s eyes widened even further.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?!"

"Isn’t this supposed to be a fantasy world with magic and monsters?! Why the hell are there Pokémon here?!"

Kazuma felt as though his understanding of reality had just suffered a catastrophic blow.

Being transported to another world had already been absurd enough.

Now he had somehow encountered an actual Pokémon inside that other world.

But after a moment, Kazuma suddenly calmed down.

He turned sharply toward Haruto.

"Wait."

Kazuma pointed at him.

"How do you know what Pokémon are?"

His eyes widened again.

"Don’t tell me... Were you another hero Aqua sent here before me?"

The more Kazuma thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

"So your special ability is summoning Pokémon?"

If Haruto was another person from Earth, then they were practically fellow countrymen.

And Haruto was obviously far stronger than Kazuma.

Having such a ridiculously powerful fellow reincarnator around would make life much easier.

Maybe Haruto could even defeat the Demon King for them!

"Huh? Did I send him here?"

Hearing Kazuma’s theory, Aqua looked at Haruto blankly.

She tilted her head and desperately searched her memory.

But no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t remember ever sending anyone named Suzuki Haruto to this world.