It was supposed to be a routine day for the five of us. One extermination quest per week and the rest could be simple quests that didn't involve death or being killed. We've been doing this for a month now, a month wherein the most dangerous quest we've been on since the Goblin incident was when we had to clear a farm of some trash pandas.

I've only leveled up two times thanks to the flying apples we killed and captured. Yes, that's right. It was strange to think about, but even stranger to see in person.

In this world, fruits and vegetables could fly under the right circumstance.

From what Maria told me after that encounter, fruits and vegetables could sometimes be brought to life by fae magic. I don't exactly know why, but it causes the produce to start flying or moving around to find a spot to spread their seeds or to flee for their lives.

It was still a pain in the ass to be honest. The whole town got involved since it could mean that there's a possiblity that most of their food would run off somewhere. Thankfully, the only things that were affected was a small orchard in the outskirts of the city.

Still, I was pretty surprised and terrified to know that this happened before. A lot of times actually. The worst one happened just a year ago when the entire harvest for the town suddenly flew off to the south. The town had to was hoff the remains of tomatoes on their walls after that incident.

But what troubled me the most is what's happening to me currently.

Right now, I am being dragged away by a Giant Worm.

"A-Arthur! Are you doing alright?"

Zel yelled out while the worm slowly inched away into the depths of its hole.

"Yeah. I'm fine. It just feels slimy."

In truth, I was panicking. The shock of the situation stiffened me up that I could barely move

"God, this is the worst."

I mutter to myself while I watched Zel, Olivia and Maria pull the rope around my waist. Jin was still stabbing at the pink flesh of the creature, dousing herself with the slime with each strike.

"Let. Him. Go!!"

The Thief screamed as she finally sliced off a large chunk of the monster. That did the trick as well since I suddenly found myself being dragged through the ground face down.

"Oh dear."

"Crap! Arthur! Are- Are you alright?!"

Zel rushed over to my side to drag me away while Maria readied a more powerful [Fireball].

Moments later, the ground around the Giant Worm was nothing more but a smoking crater that smelled of burned dirt and something fleshy. The center of the crater was still red from the heat and I could seee someting writhing in there for a moment.

This was supposed to be a simple quest. Why did things turn out like this?

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I sat at the table lazily, waiting for something, anything, to happen. I haven't told the others about the skills I've learned but I guess it doesn't need to be brought up for now. What's more important right now is my money problem and the bruises on my chest and sides.

My sides still hurt after those apples flew at me three days ago.  Zel took the brunt of the damge in our party but I'm pretty sure she just walked it off. I, on the other hand, had to limp for a few days after one of those damned things nearly crushed my right foot.

It was still a shame that a large amount of the apples were destroyed thanks to Maria. Although I'm pretty sure she also destroyed the image people have of our party. 

The guild told us to catch as many as possible, not to commit a fucking genocide on the poor things!

"I'm out of money. I had to pay the damages on that damn quest."

I grumbled out as I continued to thump my forehead onto the hard surface of the table.

"S-Sorry."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

For the past month, I stuck with this girls since I figured that they'd be good companions. Heck, I even thought I might actually get to become a harem protagonist at one point. But all those thoughts were crushed the moment I actually got to know everyone.

For starters, there's a reason why everyone in town was wary of Zel and her party. It was because they were more like a bunch of troublemakers instead of an actual party.

Maria's spells did more damage than the fucking monsters we were supposed to slay, Jin has a tendency to pick fights with everyone, Olivia's a chronic drunk and if she wasn't she's probably looking for more stuff ro drink or eat. And Zel! 

Well, Zel's pretty chill so nothing's wrong with her in my book. She's an eccentric person, but that's pretty much it.

"It's not like the guild told us the specifics of that damn quest. They just said capture and take care of as many as ya' can."

My train of thought was disrupted by Jin as she bit into piece of hard jerky.

That's the point, you fucking dumbass. You had to handle them with fucking care. They're still valuable goods that just so happens to be flying through the air.

"Well, at least the apples you sliced up were still a nice snack."

Olivia and Zel were the only ones who did the job right. It was a nice use of [Barrier] as well, it took care of most of the work and all me and Zel had to do was chase the apples into the the barrier's direction.

But that didn't matter. The money we earned is gone, all gone.

Thump.

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Thump.

Thump.

Why did I even become an adventurer? I'm a week behind on my rent and I'm barely making a living with the amount of money I'm making on quests.

To be honest, it was my fault as well for underestimating the damage Maria could do. I didn't fucking know that her fireball can burn through the fields, and why the hell do we have to pay for the damage?! It's just empty fields out there, empty fields with some cattle grazing at the time.

Okay, that may have been the reason why we had to pay that poor farmer.

"I want to quit."

"Eh?!"

The two of them jumped up at my words.

"Maybe I should just be a Chef or a Cook."

"You should consider that after doing this quest first."

"Oh, hey there, Zel."

The Knight sighed as she placed a quest notice on top of the table. She didn't look happy after hearing those words come out of my mouth.

"Exterminate the thing digging holes in the plains? Giant Frogs?"

"Possibly. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself. 100,000 Weis for just one monster."

"Say no more. I'm in."

Everyone stared at me as I stood up. Jin shook her head at me while I took a closer look at the quest.

"If we split that up, that's a few silver coins among the five of us! Enough to pay off my rent for this month!"

"I could buy a keg of some Dwarven Moon Wine!"

"Oh, didn't see you there, Olivia."

"I was just having a drink by the bar. Extermination quest in the plains? Must be the frogs then."

"Possibly. I'm still not sure but I'm sure it's Giant Frogs."

I just looked at Zel and Olivia while they continued talking.

The quest itself was simple. Kill the Giant Frogs making holes in the ground and profit. Everyone at the table was also eager to go on this quest, probably because they're in the same boat as me. 

Except Olivia. She's probably looking for more money to pay for her drinks.

Zel was still hesitating about taking on the quest, but she took one look at all of us before sighing. The Knight strapped on her shield and we immediately followed after our leader out of the guild.

"Maria, can you flush out the frogs from their burrows with a fireball or something like that?"

"I could try. It might work since their burrows are rather shallow but I can't say if this approach will work."

Zel nodded before the five of us marched south towards plains.

What happened next was a mystery to me. One moment, I was standing next to the rather large hole in the ground while Maria sent [Fireballs] down the hole. The next, I was in the mouth of some pink, worm thing while it slowly pulled me down the hole.

I shouted at the others to throw me a rope as I felt the monster slowly swallowing me from the waist down. It didn't have any teeth, just some weird hard things that had suction cups on the ends that clung on to me like a vice. Jin immediately used [Bind] on me and I felt something tight wrap around my waist.

"Hold on! Everyone, grab the rope and pull!"

I was already a few feet under the ground when I felt the hard tug around my waist. The slime that covered me and the worm made it difficult for everyone pulling the rope. Sure, I struggled to break free as well since it's not my fetish to be vored by some worm, but at this point I just gave up and resigned myself to my fate.

"Illyria will revive me either way, so what's the point."

I murmured to myself as I tuned out everyone's screaming around me.

At some point, Jin jumped into the hole and began her assault on the worm. It was clearly working since I could see a large gash at the side of the creature, but the Giant Worm didn't even feel bothered by it. It continued to slowly inch away, unfazed by the large gash gradually growing larger as Jin hacked away with increasing intensity.

"You know, I have a pretty high Luck stat but it feels like whenever we go monster hunting, all that Luck just goes away."

"Look... If you... have... the strength! Fucking damn it! If you have the damn strength to complain, why don't you put up more of a fucking struggle?!"

Jin said in between pants as she dug her daggers deeper into the creature.

"No. I'm tired and it looks- Oi! Oi! Hey! T-The rope is slipping! The rope is fucking slipping!"

I started to claw at the creature in desperation. The sword I had on me was inside the mouth of the creature and I couldn't use it to free myself. 

Sadly, the thing just secreted even more slime and soon my hands were covered by the stuff. At least I managed to tighten the rope around me.

"I fucking hate this! Fucking shit! Fucking piece of shit!"

I could feel Zel and Olivia's worried stare above me as I tried my best to pry myself free from the Giant Worm's mouth. The more I thought about my situation, the more I wanted to stab into this thing.

Frustration, anger, possibly even rage swirled around in my chest as I clawed at the gap between my waist and the mouth of this damn thing. But the most dominant feeling that welled up from beneath me is a familiar one, one I know all too well.

Disappointment.

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 "I want to quit being an adventurer."

Everyone gave each other a look of concern while I sprawled myself out on the grass. The slime was starting to harden but I didn't care.

Near me is a smoking pile of burnt worm flesh at the center of a giant crater in the middle of a scenic and peacful field. Well, it was supposed to be scenic if not for the smoking crater and the smell of burning slime. 

Jin was resting on Maria's lap while she gave her some water. She must've been exhausted after that encounter, but at least Maria's taking care of her. I was just lying here on the ground, unable to move my limbs thanks to the damn slime of that worm.

"To think it had some paralyzing effect..."

Maria murmured as her hand slowly became numb and unresponsive.

"This is a disaster. Sorry for this, Arthur. But-"

"I'm quitting."

Zel was taken aback by this as I continued to lay on the ground.

"P-Perhaps we could go on more easier quests next time! There's no need-"

"I'm going to find another job. I've had enough of this world."

Usually, Jin would've said something before insulting me at this point. I guess even she felt pity for my current situation-

"Forget it, Zel. That guy doesn't have the guts to continue forward."

Or not.

The Thief tried to get up, only to fall down like a limp noodle. She was now face down on the dirt and Maria scrambled to get her right side up and free from dirt.

"I didn't even level up for all the trouble you caused me! This entire month! I leveled up 2 times! 2 fucking times after I killed a handful of those apples!"

Zel wanted to speak up, but Olivia stopped her.

"And the money! The money I was supposed to save up to buy gear just goes to the fines I have to pay every other week because of the fires and fights you guys cause!"

This time, there was only silence.

"God damn it! This is not the kind of world I pictured when coming here! I thought I'd be fighting some Slimes or something not being swallowed up by some damn worm!"

I don't know what happened, but I managed to move my arm just a bit before it collapsed back onto the ground.

"Z-Zel, maybe we should go back to the guild. Everyone could talk there while we have a nice glass of ale to smoothe things out, right?"

Olivia's attempt to break the tense air sort of worked. Sort of. I was still pretty pissed about not being to move, but at least Zel isn't looking at me with that sad look in her eyes anymore. 

"I... I'll carry Arthur. Maria, you take care of Jin."

Everyone nodded weakly, then I felt Zel struggling to lift me up. 

I did my best to help, but I can't really do anything on account mf my whole body being unresponsive. In the end, Olivia had to grab me and place me on Zel's back. Some of the slime dripped on her but she didn't seem like she was fazed by this.

"Sorry."

Zel whisperred softly before she took a step forward.

The rest of the short walk was silent. Really silent. Everyone's spirits was dampened by that encounter, and by my announcement. I wanted to apologize, it might've even been the right thing to do. But I kept my mouth shut while we continued to walk, rather, while the three of them walked. Jin and I were being carried by Maria and Zel respectively.

Zel didn't seem to be bothered by this, she carried my weight like it was nothing. Maria, on the other hand, was reduced to a slow walking pace while she carried the light Jin on her back. The Archmage was clearly the type to avoid anything labour intensive, but she carried her friend anyway.

"Hold."

Zel suddenly stopped in her tracks, her eyes scanning the horizon as she reached for the sword at her waist.

"Maria, cast some-"

"My [Detect Enemy] is going off."

Jin struggled for her daggers but she only managed to twitch her fingers before she gave up on trying to move.

"We've... We've got company."

I mutter out as I mustered the strength to lift one of my fingers. Zel followed the direction and looked at the cloud of dust heading towards our direction.

"Illyria, protect us..."

Olivia casted her skill, [Greater Barrier], and some buffs on both Maria and Zel. 

"What the hell is it?!"

Jin tried to look, but the Archmage laid her down on the grass.

"Giant Boars, by the looks of it. The smell must've attracted them here."

Zel drew her sword and I slipped off from her back and fell with a loud thud on the ground. Great, I'm paralyzed and my ribs hurt like hell.

"Oh my- I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I forgot that you were there! I'm so, so sorry!"

Zel bowed a few times while I just glared at her.

"I am so quitting this job when we get back."