Me, a priest? How could that be!

Chapter 4, though a humorous story, is not a joke.

Outside the starting village of Axel lies a vast plain, with towering mountains stretching into the distance.

There was only one road leading to the city gate, wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side. The surrounding area was completely open and somewhat frightening.

"What a waste, if only we built it here—"

Snapped!

I slapped myself.

Damn it, he's definitely been influenced; he's unconsciously started planning and building things. He's an adventurer now, he needs to pull himself together and change his mindset.

Although it's a comedy novel!

But this is no joke!

The target of this extermination is a giant toad, which is considered one of the weakest monsters in Konosuba... Even so, when you see a monster that is as big as a small car, you can't help but feel a little scared.

After all, Charlotte hasn't learned the skill yet.

Skills in this world aren't as simple as just clicking around in a game; they require instruction.

For example, Kazuma Sato's "stealing" skill was taught by Chris; Megumin learned the strongest explosion magic in humankind only under the tutelage of the Demon King's army officers.

However, Charlotte was new to the place and didn't know anyone. In addition, he was penniless and forced to make a living, so he had no choice but to fight monsters first.

of course.

It wasn't that they weren't prepared.

This tattered armor is where his confidence comes from.

The saleswoman at the counter clearly stated that the only thing the giant toads hate is metal objects. As long as they are fully armed, even novice adventurers can easily defeat them.

In addition, he was told about the giant toad's weaknesses, such as being immune to physical damage, not moving while eating and swallowing, and being relatively slow in movement with only its tongue being flexible.

That older sister is such a kind person. I'll treat her to a meal when I get back to repay her.

Next...

Let's begin our first adventure!

Charlotte, clutching a rusty dagger, stealthily made her way toward the lone giant toad on the plain.

Well known.

When facing a large enemy, never make a sound; a sneak attack to kill them in one blow is the correct approach.

But perhaps the giant toad had very strong senses, because despite its ugly appearance, Charlotte immediately detected the attacker when she got within about 3 meters of it.

Without a word, the monster opened its mouth, and its tongue shot out at Charlotte with lightning speed. At least from an ecological point of view, it was no different from an ordinary toad.

I'm hiding!

Faced with the attacking tongue, Charlotte instinctively jumped to the side, then stumbled and fell to the ground.

Tsk, he forgot he was wearing armor!

Don't be fooled by how tattered and thin this armor looks; it's ultimately made of iron. It's fine when walking, but any movement will cause intense discomfort and it's quite heavy.

……wrong!

Now is not the time to talk about this!

Charlotte, who had fallen to the ground, dodged the giant toad's second, third... fifth attack with a side roll! How could a mere giant toad possess a five-hit lightning whip? There's no way to explain this.

It rolled around on the ground several times.

In desperation, Charlotte, whose strength was mostly depleted, struggled to her feet. She stared at the giant toad while gripping her short dagger tightly, and then…

He turned and ran!

No, no, no!

It's too much for a fragile college student to face a giant toad, let alone wearing heavy armor that restricts movement.

All you have to do now is run.

Despite its bulky size and seemingly sluggish movement, the giant toad hopped and leaped several steps ahead of Charlotte, catching up with her in no time.

To make matters worse...

His strength was completely exhausted.

"Croak!"

The giant toad flicked out its tongue, which was covered in foul-smelling slime, and scooped Charlotte into its mouth. Luckily, Charlotte had taken a breath beforehand, or she would have been suffocated by the stench.

Just when Charlotte thought he was doomed, he was unexpectedly vomited up again a little while later.

"Pooh!"

The giant toad made a very human-like expression of disgust, and even flicked its tongue, as if it had eaten something disgusting.

Charlotte, covered in slime, rolled around on the plain several times, wincing and twitching in pain.

It took me a while to realize what was happening.

Right, since monsters hate metal products, why not take advantage of that?

Thinking of this, disregarding the stench and slime covering his body, he ran once more toward the giant toad that was hopping away.

He intended to throw himself into her arms.

It must be said that monsters without intelligence are easy to deal with. Because of their limited vision, they can only see moving objects but cannot see the actual subject. Thus, the giant toad with an empty mind swallowed Charlotte again.

He was well-prepared this time.

The short dagger in his hand kept stabbing into the soft mouth of the motionless monster. As the giant toad trembled and groaned in pain, the feeling of wanting to vomit but being unable to did so was naturally killed.

Covered in slime, Charlotte then struggled to crawl out of the monster's mouth.

It worked!

The lady at the counter is right.

The giant toad remains still when it's feeding, and Charlotte took advantage of this.

Most importantly, it doesn't matter if he fails, because the giant toad that hates metal will spit him out anyway.

Wiping the ridiculously thick sticky substance off his face, Charlotte plopped down on the ground, panting heavily. Typing was definitely easier; he vowed never to be a keyboard warrior again.

However, finding a safe and worry-free way to hunt giant toads is a good thing, even if it's not suitable for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I silently cursed myself for being pretentious.

We haven't even figured out how to pay for tonight's stay, so what's the point of being picky?

Let's do it before it gets dark.

Making more money this way is the key.

So passersby would see a strange boy covered in slime on the plain, laughing as he ran toward a lone giant toad.

They neither dodge nor avoid being swallowed by the monster, but soon they will crawl out of the monster's mouth and run to the next giant toad, repeating the above operation over and over again.

Such behavior is utterly perverse.

"Look, this is a giant toad. Once you remove its head and internal organs, it's ready to eat. It has six times the protein of beef. Now, let's..."

Just as Charlotte found a way to defeat the monster and was testing it by constantly hunting down lone giant toads on the plains, a burst of flames suddenly shot into the sky in the distance.

Although the light was small in scale, it seemed to be a condensation of an extremely large amount of light, and it was very dazzling.

Amidst the blinding light and the deafening roar that shook the surrounding air, the rising smoke and dust from the explosion, and the strong breeze from afar that made Charlotte's hair flutter, Charlotte's hand, which was about to ambush the monster, involuntarily stopped.

He gazed enviously at the dazzling magical light in the distance; even though there was a distance of several hundred meters between them, the power of the magic was still clearly transmitted.

A magic spell with such exaggerated power must be an explosion spell.

"How wonderful, magic..."

If I could become a Grand Magus and learn Explosion Magic from Megumin, its power would definitely be stronger than Megumin's.

...I only regret that I lack intelligence.

Charlotte's eyes showed sadness, but when he saw several giant toads bursting out of the ground and surrounding him, his sadness vanished.

Damn it!

The explosive magic was so powerful that it alerted the giant toad hiding underground!