A Shinobi's Take on this Wonderful World

Want to Form a Party?

"We can't beat the toads by ourselves. Let's recruit more party members."

Kazuma told Aqua with a serious expression.

After a second attempt at fighting the giant toads for their kill quest, the two went back to the guild to come up with a better strategy. They had three days to kill five toads, and they only killed one toad because Naruto had knocked it out.

-Kazuma had gone back and finished the job while Naruto was waiting for them at the adventurer's guild.

Gaining a third party member was the obvious choice to overcome this obstacle.

"Leave it to me! If I make the request, people will be lining up to join us because I'm an Arch Priest! We're in high demand, you know?"

Aqua claimed and rushed off to gather the materials needed to make a request form.

'Should I really leave it to that girl...? Meh, it's only a party invitation. Even Aqua should be able to at least do a simple task like that.'

Kazuma thought with a short nod. It was better for Aqua, who held a higher class than him, to make the invitation anyway. Because who would want to join a party with someone who held the weakest job?

While Kazuma was reassuring himself, the guild doors opened, and he saw a gloomy teenage boy with his head drooped slowly walk inside.

'Naruto? What's wrong with him?'

Kazuma thought when Aqua suddenly slammed her hands onto their table, shocking the teen.

"Kazuma! I've really outdone myself this time! Just wait, people will be lining up outside the door to join my party!"

"When did this become your party? By the way, you seem awfully excited about this. What happened to the whiny girl that wanted nothing more than to go home? But whatever. Why don't we just ask Naruto to join us?"

Kazuma retorted before making the obvious suggestion.

Inviting Naruto into the party should have been a no-brainer. Kazuma couldn't exactly say they were friends because they'd only had two conversations, but the guy did save Aqua. Since Naruto had a gift from the gods, it was safe to assume he was strong.

Plus, there were rumors going around that Naruto was a solo hunter. So that meant he wasn't already in a party.

"Eh? But I already went to the trouble of making that invitation form... We should wait to see who answers to my call."

Aqua said with a shrug and drank from her cup, which prompted Kazuma to raise an eyebrow.

"That's a surprise, I thought you would be all for asking Naruto to join us. You like him, don't you?"

"!"

Aqua spewed the contents of her drink into Kazuma's face.

Ew.

"W-who likes who!? How could a goddess such as myself fall for a mortal? If anything, I'm sure Naruto has fallen head over heels over my beauty!"

Aqua stated confidently and gestured to herself while Kazuma grumpily wiped his face with a napkin.

"Don't give me that crap! When Naruto saved you from being eaten by that toad yesterday, you completely broke character saying "T-thank you for saving me" all shy and cutesy like a heroine in a girl meets boy manga!"

Kazuma fired back with an exaggerated imitation of Aqua's voice, causing the girl's face to burn bright red.

"Girl meets boy!?"