After carving up the body of the Rajang, or what was left of it, James and his party went on to continue in escorting the two strangers out of the forest and bringing them to the Town of Axel.

During their trip, James quickly noticed something in the atmosphere that felt uncomfortable.

*crunch*

James and Ozpin's faces both made an unnoticeable twitch at the crunching sound of the leaves that are being crushed under their boots.

'This is awkward.' James thought, making sure to keep his eyes dead ahead.

'Why is everything and everyone so quiet!? Gods, it feels like I'm about to walk into an ambush!' Ozpin thought, darting his eyes towards James in an attempt to establish a silent conversation with the marksman.

Seeing that James was too focused on escorting their guest, Ozpin took a deep breath and spoke.

"So... Tell us about yourselves." He said, breaking the silence while turning to the two strangers, getting stares from the group while doing so.

[You know... I expected that to come from Ruby, not from this guy.] Cortana mentally remarked with a dull look on her face.

'Come on, give the guy some slack. He's probably dying on the inside after that, you know?' Y/n replied before deciding to humor the silver-haired man.

"I'm Y/n and she's..." Y/n introduced himself while gesturing towards his companion, "Cortana. And you three?" She asked.

"Name's Ozpin." Ozpin replied while gesturing to himself.

"James." James replied curtly, turning back to the dirt road ahead.

"And I'm Glydna, which Y/n here knows for some reason."

"Wait. Your name's actually Glynda!?" Y/n exclaimed with a shocked look on his face. Seeing the confused looks he's getting from everyone he explained. "I only called you 'Glynda', because your face greatly resembles someone that I know that is also named Glynda." He said, getting understanding 'ooohh's' from the three adventurers and a confused one from Cortana.

He mentally celebrated at his on the spot BS, much to Cortana's shock. [Wait. That was all made up!?]

'Uh-huh.' Y/n mentally replied before turning back to Ozpin when the latter asked him something.

After a few hours of walking and taking down couple of monsters that tried to attack them, the group had finally reached the edge of forest.

"Ooohhhh, we made a killing today!" Glynda cheerfully said while carrying a large sack slinged over her shoulder that is filled with monster parts that they had gathered from the monsters that tried to attack their group.

"Please tell me that wasn't intentional!" James said while also carrying a large sack on his own.

"I don't think anyone would care even if it was!" Ozpin laughed, seemingly not to notice the sack slinged over his shoulder being almost twice as big, compared to the other two.

"Tell me, why are those two not helping us with this?" James asked, causing Y/n to raise an eyebrow.

"Because, I wasn't the one who insisted to grab those monster parts after we killed them." Y/n retorted, causing James to turn towards Cortana, who tilted her head.

"I'm cute." Came Cortana's answer, much to Ozpin's and Glynda's amusement.

Y/n and Cortana continued following the three, passing a few traveling merchants, much to James and Glynda's relief, as they could lighten their load by selling their loot, whilst keeping the other rare monster parts to be sold at Axel where they could sell them on a higher price.

After selling some of their loot to the traveling merchants the three adventurers called for a short break which Y/n and Cortana didn't mind.

"Puwah! Finally! I haven't gotten any drink for hours now!" Ozpin said after emptying his water flask in a single swing.

"Same." James said after taking a few large gulps on his water flask before pouring the rest on his head.

"You two are lucky that I know some basic water magic or else you two would've ran out of water ages ago!" Glyda said before casting a basic water magic called [Create Water] and guided it towards Ozpin's and James' open flasks.

"Thanks." "Sorry sorry!" James and Ozpin said respectively.

"Make up for it by roasting the meat, idiots." Glynda replied, getting a laugh from Ozpin and an eyebrow twich from James.

The mention of roasted meat instantly garnered the attention of Y/n as the latter drooled at the thought of eating a cooked meat.

'I don't care if they cook it rare, medium-rare or well done. I'm having some!' Y/n thought while wiping a drool on the corner of his mouth.

[Noted. Master, likes roasted meat on the same level as steak.] Cortana thought to herself.

Y/n watched in anticipation as Ozpin pulled out a metal contraption that shifted into a portable barbeque spit that automatically ignited after shifting.

His eyes then trailed on Ozpin when the latter went to the large sack he was carrying earlier and pulled out a large chunk of meat that is still attached to a bone. Y/n's eyes followed the meat as it was placed on to the barbeque spit and was slowly spun over the fire.

James had to hold back an amused snort when he noticed Y/n's attention was completely focused on the meat he was cooking and was tempted to turn down the fire to cook the meat as slow as possible.

'It's soooo slow! It's like, I'm being tortured here!' Y/n mentally complained as he watched the agonizing slow process of the meat being cooked.

 Cortana had to place a hand on Y/n's shoulder when the latter thought of using fire breath to quickly cook it.

[Think about our cover, Red!] Cortana reminded, much to the latter's frustration.

James cried out in pain when he felt something hard collide on the back of his head.

"You're purposely cooking it slow! I'm getting hungry here, we don't have all day!" Glynda said in annoyance after throwing a whetstone at James.

James was about to tell off Glynda on how dangerous it is to throw something hard on the back of people's heads when he suddenly felt something dark and ominous wash over him.

Keep turning. 

Ozpin and Glynda looked at James in confusion when the latter suddenly stopped. They were about to ask what is wrong when the latter went to turn the bone meat faster than necessary.

Ozpin glanced at the whetstone laying on the ground, 'Better hide this before Glynda uses this on me as well!' He thought as picked up the offending object and placed it on his pouch when Glynda wasn't looking.

A few minutes later, Y/n and the rest are enjoying their own 'Well-Done Steak'.

"Fucking finally!" Y/n said between bites as he savored the taste on his mouth on each passing second.

"I'm honestly surprised that this meat tasted deliscious even it was just only roasted without any seasonings and stuff." Cortana said while taking a large bite on her meat.

"That's because the fire that the portable barbeque spit produces is special." Glynda said, swallowing her food, "It has runes eched around the main body that makes the meat taste like it was cooked in a proper kitchen. I don't know how it actually works but that's the gist of it."

Cortana patted Y/n on the shoulder, "With that thing then it's possible for you to cook something now! Hopefully, it won't just suddenly explode like the microwave last week."

"Oi. I only pressed a single button then the damn thing immediately exploded. And just so you know, I've been taking lessons from Tohru and I can cook properly now, although not as good as her." Y/n replied, a bit annoyed when the girl brought out his previous lack of skill in the kitchen.

Glynda, James, and Ozpin looked at the duo in confusion. 'What's a 'microwave'?'

____________________

 After their short break turned lunch break, the group continued their journey to Axel. An hour of walking later the group finally reached a familiar area.

"Alright, we've finally reached the [Green Plains]! It wouldn't be long until we reach Axel." Ozpin said, pointing at the large grass field in front of them.

Cortana was about to admire the sceneric view in front of her when a large frog hop into the view.

"Is that a... Giant frog?" Cortana slowly asked.

"Yes." James and Ozpin instinctively stepped away from Glynda upon hearing the dangerously cold tone the latter was using.

Cortana's eyes widened when Glynda summoned a massive spear from the ground.

"Sit still and die." Cortana was disturbed at the hostiliy in Glynda's voice, aimed towards the giant frog.

"[Earth Spear]!" They watched as the massive spear was launched towards the giant frog.

Ozpin, James and, Cortana turned a bit green when the giant frog was turned into a red paste after being hit by Glynda's overpowered [Earth Spear].

Y/n gave Ozpin a questioning look, prompting a nervous chuckle from the silver-haired man. "When we were just starting out, Glynda used to wield dual blades. Unfortunately, she wasn't very agile back then when she started out, so she always ended up being eaten by those giant frogs."

"I hate them." Glynda hissed, not turning her eyes away from the large red paste on the grass field.

Ozpin was about to make a teasing remark towards Glynda when all of a sudden a massive explosion detonated at a distance, not far from their current location.

"W-what the!?" Cortana said, jumping slightly at the sudden explosion.

"Huh, she got new party members?" Ozpin mused as he walked towards the direction of the explosion.

"Might as well grab her. Her new party probably had ditched her again after casting that [Explosion] magic." Glynda said with her anger quickly dying down after venting it on a giant frog.

'Well, I wasn't expecting to meet Explosion girl too soon.' Y/n thought, catching Cortana's attention.

[Explosion girl? Is Master referring to a person? If so, then who? Hmm... I might have to activate [Scan] for this.] Cortana thought to herself as the color of her eyes unnoticeably shifted into a darker shade of purple and her pupils becoming square-shaped.

[Scanning world's current users of [Explosion] magic: 1087]

[Scanning all [Explosion] magic users within a 100-mile radius. Found users: Megumin of the Crimson Demon Clan and Wiz the Ice Witch.]

Cortana's eyes went back to normal after using scan without anyone's notice and went to follow the others in following Ozpin.

[Alright, my best bet would be this 'Megumin' girl as she's the closest one of the two in the area.] Cortana thought to herself.

It didn't take them too long to find the person responsible for the massive explosion.

"Naisu! Megumin, You can finally keep yourself on your feet after casting [Explosion]!" A familiar voice happily said, causing Y/n's and Cortana's expressions to turn dull.

In front of their group is Gabiru, who is currently congratulating a young dark-haired girl over something she had accomplished.

"So this is what you've been up to, Gabiru." Y/n suddenly said, making Gabiru and the unnamed girl jump in response.

Y/n swore he heard a crack when Gabiru's head snapped towards his direction.

"O-oi, are okay-" Y/n's concern was cut off by Gabiru as the latter's eyes widened in shock upon recognizing a familiar face.

"G-Great Red-sama!" Gabiru said with his posture going stiff as he greeted the red-haired man in front of him.

"Sup." Y/n greeted back as his group walked closer towards Gabiru and the dark-haired girl.

"Hey Explosion Girl, did you cast that [Explosion] magic?" Glynda asked, getting a nod from 'Explosion Girl'.

"Then how are you still standing?" James asked the question running on Ozpin's and Glynda's minds.

"Before I answer you-" Explosion Girl's words were interrupted when the latter's stomach loudly growled, causing a slight coloring of the girl's cheeks, "-can we eat something first?"

___________________

 The sun was already starting to set when they've finally reached Axel.

Upon entering the town, Ozpin and James split off from the group to sell the rare monster parts their party harvested back in the [Ancient Forest] with James volunteering to help out Ozpin in selling them.

"Megumin, we're here. You can get off now." Gabiru said to the girl he's currently carrying on his back.

"Can't. I'm still exhausted from my magic, Gabiru." Megumin replied.

Gabiru was about to point out the lack of exhaustion from the girl's tone and face, but stopped when he felt Megumin's grip on him tightened.

"Alright... Let's get you to the guild hall so that we can eat." Gabiru said, already used at the girl's bouts of laziness at random times.

"Great Red-sama, if you would follow me, please. I'll show you where the Adventurer's Guild Hall is." Gabiru added.

"You two can go on. I also know where the Adventurer's Guild Hall is, so we can meet you two there. Besides, Explosion Girl seems she could use some food right now and a heavy one too, with how much mana she lost today." Glynda said, and to her amusement, she watched as Megumin.

"Let's go! I'm hungry!" Megumin said.

"Oi. I will drop you." Gabiru threatened but sped up anyways.

The two slowly disappeared from view as Gabiru jogged away from the three.

"They're cute." Cortana remarked after a few seconds of silence.

"So, Glynda-san." Y/n started while reverting to the habit of adding suffixes on people's names.

"Why didn't we go with along with Gabiru? Aren't we going to the guild hall as well?" He asked.

"Yeah, but before we go there, we have to get you two a place to spend the night in first. You see the inn's here starts to run out of spots around this time and if that happens, you two will end up sleeping either in the alleys or in the stables." Glynda answered.

"How about those two?" Cortana asked.

"You mean James and Ozpin? Don't worry about them, I'll be reserving rooms for them as well." Glynda replied.

"Ah, no. I mean Gabiru and Megumin-san." Cortana corrected, getting a chuckle from Glynda.

"Ah! Yes, James and Ozpin are not important." She said, pausing a bit to wait for the embarrassed apologies from Cortana.

It never came.

Glynda felt a tug her lips as she continued, "Don't worry about them, too. Believe it or not that Gabiru guy is one of the best and dependable adventurer's here, despite still being a rookie. So chances are, he already has his covered.

"And Megumin-san?" Cortana asks as they began to move.

"Oh, I got her covered, she's bunking with me." Glynda easily replied.

Their group went to find an inn close to the guild hall. Upon entering the inn they were greeted by the staff that seem familiar with Glynda.

"Ah, Glynda! The usual three?" A female receptionist asked.

"Yeah, but can you add an additional bed in my room, I got Explosion girl to bunk with me." Glynda requested.

"Um, Glynda? Explosion Girl already has a room of her own. It was paid for by the top rookie, Gabiru." The receptionist said.

This surprised the trio, "Oh, good! That guy treats his party well." Glynda said in approval.

"Well anyways, Can I get rooms for these two as well." She said while pointing a thumb behind her towards Y/n and Cortana.

"Then that would be five-thousand Eris, Glynda." The receptionist said.

Cortana hid a wince at the absurdly high price.

She watched as Glynda easily handed the receptionist a small brown bag.

"Here's five-thousand, Lina. You can have the rest to relax with your boyfriend." Glynda said.

"Ah, thanks! You're the best, Glynda!" The receptionist thankfully said.

"No worries! With the amount of muscle brained idiots this town has to offer, you definitely deserve a time to relax after dealing with them all day." Glynda said.

They left the inn afterwards and headed towards the guild hall.

Upon entering the building they immediately saw Gabiru and Megumin sitting on one of the tables and are currently having a meal.

"Great Red-sama! Over here!" Gabiru said, waving them over after spotting them.

"You two go on ahead, I'll handle something first with the guild receptionist," Glynda said before walking away.

While heading over to Gabiru's and Megumin's table, Y/n walked straight uninterrupted, knocking down several people on his way.

'So this is what it feels like being The Train.' Y/n thought, easily knocking down a large adventurer on his rear with a cry of complaint.

Cortana followed behind him, amused at the number of people being knocked over by Y/n that she began to count after the knocking down the fourth person in his way.

The mess hall was filled with cries of compliant, which Y/n easily ignored as he reached Gabiru's and Megumin's table.

"Sup. Hey, where did you get those?" Y/n greeted while gesturing towards Gabiru's meal.

"Uh... We got them over there." Gabiru pointed to his left towards the mess hall servers, before pausing upon realizing something.

"Ah, thanks." Y/n said before turning towards where Gabiru pointed and walked straight, knocking down several people once again.

Sitting beside Gabiru, Megumin wolfed down her meal uninterrupted, completely oblivious to the chaos that Y/n is causing in the mess hall.

Upon returning to Gabiru's table, Y/n and Cortana sat down, ignoring the angry yells behind them after being knocked down once again by Y/n on his way back towards their table.

"You think they would've wisened up after being knocked down once, huh?" Cortana remarked, before digging in.

"Which is why I didn't even bother avoiding them. It's more fun that way." Y/n said as he wolfed down his meal, which is twice the size compared to Gabiru's and Megumin's meal put together.

Gabiru who noticed this, couldn't help but ask. "Great Red-sama, where did you get the money to pay for all of this?" He gestured towards Y/n's and Cortana's plates.

"From my pocket." Y/n said, pulling out a large bag of money from his pocket.

"How did you fit that in your pocket!?" Megumin said, pointing at the large bag that came from Y/n's front pocket.

"Like this." Y/n said while simply putting back the large bag into his pocket with ease.

Megumin and Gabiru watched as the bag disappeared into the man's pocket.

Gabiru and Megumin then looked at Y/n for a few seconds before realizing that the man wasn't going to explain.

"That doesn't explain everything!" Megumin shouted, causing Cortana choke on her drink as the latter laughed mid drink.

Before Y/n could speak, a loud voice spoke behind him.

"Hey, you there!"

Y/n turned to the owner of the voice before making a face upon seeing who's its owner.

"OH, FOR THE LOVE OF-"

____________________

"Achoo!" Class 1-A stopped taking notes when their English teacher sneezed during a lecture.

"Bless you, Sensei." Rias said.

The class jumped when Artoria suddenly laughed out of the blue, worrying the class.

"Sensei, if you're not feeling well, I could help bring you to the nurse's office." A student helpfully said with her hand up.

Artoria stopped laughing and looked at the student who spoke, "Nice try Tenma-san." Artoria said, causing Gab to snap her fingers.

"Dang, almost had her."

"Well if you're that worried about me then I could go." Artoria spoke causing the class to give Artoria some hopeful looks.

"Although, I would have to leave you guys with a five page long essay about William Shakespeare's masterpieces, which will be back-to-back for tomorrow-"

"Sensei! How do you pronounce that word again!?" A student interrupted while desperately pointing at the blackboard.

"You mean this one, Ishigami-san?" Artoria, gleefully asked the trembling teen.

"H-hai!" Ishigami replied.

"That's an 'I', Ishigami-san." Artoria said with a closed-eyed smile, promoting the black-haired teen to drop his raised hand.

"T-thanks, Sensei!"

Nodding at the black-haired teen, she then addressed the class before her.

"Now then, where were we?" She asked sweetly.

____________________

Y/n's POV

'Of all times to tunnel vision...' I mentally groaned as I looked at the person in front of me.

In front of me stood the goddess of water, Aqua.

"You made me spill my food all over me!" She angrily yelled while marching angrily towards me.

Looking her over, I noticed that she isn't wearing her usual blue themed clothing, instead her outfit consisted of a dark blue cloak worn over a simple beige shirt that is paired with a dark grey shorts and thigh-length white boots. One thing that didn't change was her translucent pink hagoromo, which is being used as a scarf instead of floating around her shoulders like a divine relic.

"Ah, ok." I tonelessly replied, causing her to stumble mid-step.

"That's all you're going to say!?" She said after recovering, "How about you compensate me for the food you made me spill! Like, helping me out with a quest!" She said while suddenly adding a suggestion of us teaming up to make money.

I was about to say no to avoid another headache when Megumin shot up from her seat.

"Another party member!?" She cried out in what I could tell as excitement.

I think?

____________________

Aqua's POV

After angrily demanding a compensation for spilling my food and staining my clothing I waited for the rude guy to reply while also briefly glancing at the people on his table.

"Another party member!?" Cried the short brown-haired girl as she shot up from her seat.

Good, at least one of them is already on board with the idea of myself joining their party.

That means no more soloing those stupid giant frog quests! I can now finally finish one without being covered from head to toe with frog slime!

Ugh. Those frogs alone is making me regret standing up to those older gods for bulling Eris.

Why did I do that again?

Oh, right. It's because of that mortal's words when she was asked why she saved her kouhai.

"It's a sempai's job to look over their kouhai's, Megami-sama!"

It's a shame that girl chose to move on to a next life, but it's her decision and I have to respect that.

Even to this day, I still find her words inspiring and annoying at the same time.

"You idiot, why did you have to copy her, huh?" I chastisized myself for the hundredth time.

"Did you say something, miss?" I was knocked off from my musing by the brown-haired girl as the latter casually snatched a drumstick from the brown-haired- Wait. Isn't he the number one rookie adventurer in this town? Then that means it would be more easier for me to level up and get stronger until I can manage on my own to continue on my quest of slaying the demon king that is warring against this country!

If only we deities were allowed to interfere in the mortal plain then I wouldn't have to "voluntarily" come down here to do task with my own hands.

Stupid reincarnated mortals getting sidetracked and forgetting about their main mission.

Anyways, before I get sidetracked like those mortals, I focused back into reality just in time for the brown-haired girl to ask for my name, class and abilities.

"I'm Aqua. I'm level ten Arch-Priest with a few dozen attack and support skills under my belt. It's a pleasure being in your party " I said, introducing myself to her and by extension, the people sitting at their table.

"Same here!" The brown-haired girl said before being lightly bopped on the head by the no.1 rookie,  "Megumin! We haven't decided to let her join the party yet!" 

"She's already in the party! What are you talking about!?" The brown-haired girl, named Megumin argued back.

The argument was short-lived when the no.1 rookie relented from his arguing when Megumin began to argue in a childish manner.

Hm. I could use that to win arguments. Wait-no, that's stupid and embarrassing. Eris wouldn't let me live it down if she sees me doing that and she'll use that as a blackmail material to get back at me when I tease her!

Oh, right!" Megumin suddenly exclaimed before facing me, "We haven't introduced ourselves yet, right!? My name is..." Megumin started before placing a red eyepatch on her left eye, "Megumin of the Crimson Demon Clan! I am an Arch Wizard of the highest calibre that wields the most forbidden magic." She said, introducing herself with a... weird flair. "I wield the power known as Explosion Magic, thus my calling is Explosion-" Megumin's long and dramatic introduction was cut short by the no. 1 rookie, "It is a pleasure to meet you Aqua-san! I am looking forward to fighting alongside you!"

"Oi! Don't ruin my introduction with that lame intro, Gabiru! And what's with that friendly tone?" Megumin remarked, looking a bit ticked off for some reason.

Turning to the next person the blue-haired girl then introduced herself, "I'm Cortana. I'm not an adventurer yet so I don't have a class  profession like you three, but Red and I will register ourselves later after the meal so that we can officially start going on an adventure!" Cortana said with a bright and cheerful tone in her introduction.

Okay, so far she's the most likable in the group. Alright, and up next is...

"Name's-" "Don't care, I'll call you 'Red' because of your hair. It's not nice to meet you." I rudely interrupted, as I'm still upset about the food that he made me spill. That food was expensive, you know? And worse, he made it spill all over myself, staining my clothes in the process!

As I was about to make him apologize for bumping on to me earlier, I realized something in front of my face.

"...W... re you, dis... ct... Red...ama!"

Gabiru's voice barely registered to my ears as my eyes involuntarily crossed in order to clearly see the tip of a trident that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was thrusted dangerously close to my face.

"Weakling! Apologize to Great Red-sama and beg for his forgiveness this instant!" Gabiru angrily said making me notice that he's the one that's currently holding the trident.

Wait. WHY IS THERE A WEAPON POINTED DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO MY FACE!? WHERE THE HELL DID GABIRU GET THAT!?

I was too focused on the tip of the trident that is threateningly close to gouging out my eyes that I failed to notice my legs losing strength, causing my rear to hit the floor in a painful drop.

"Oi, Gabiru! Lower your weapon! You're causing a scene!" Red barked, causing Gabiru to look at him.

"But Great Red-sama-" Gabiru tried to argue, only for this red-haired guy to raise an eyebrow, making Gabiru flinch before quickly lowering his trident and moving it away from my face.

Is... Is this guy stronger than Gabiru? No way... Did I just antagonized a person stronger than the no.1 rookie? Crap! With my current state, Gabiru would destroy me in a one-on-one fight. Sure, I can beat him with careful planning ahead, but this guy?

Hell no, he's like the Elder god, Emory! Only a lot worse!

Come to think of it he just vanished a few months ago.

Where is he?

"Achoo!" "Oi, get up you're blocking the way to the other tables." Red said.

"I can't! My legs gave up on me!" I replied.

Red grunted before picking me up by the hood of my cloak, nearly choking me before placing me on his left, opposite of Cortana.

Red didn't say anything after that as went back to eating.

My stomach growled, reminding me of my food that was spilled earlier.

Ugh. I don't have enough eris to get myself another food without spending the eris that I have reserved for the inn.

"Oi, eat your food before it gets cold." Red said without looking away from his meal.

I looked down and saw in front of me is a platter of roasted chicken.

'Where did-' I thought before sneaking a glance at Red and noticed the annoyed look on his face.

I then turned my attention back to my food.

I noticed a warm feeling on my stomach as I began to dig into my food.

I don't know how he got food for me without me noticing, but I guess he's not really an asshole. He's just a jerk and a softie.

____________________

Chapter 64 END

Finally! After a few days of procrastination, I finally finished the chapter. Sorry about the late update, I was recently hooked by a PC game that my friend introduced me so...

A-Anyways I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! See ya'll on the next update!