In this other world full of magic and monsters, the most ironic thing imaginable had happened.
Two reincarnators who prided themselves on being smart, and had tried to take shortcuts through honey traps and public chaos, were now standing on a construction site in Axel, covered in dust and grime, holding shovels and wheelbarrows, their eyes utterly dead.
"So this is reality..." Kazuma looked at the mountain of bricks piled in front of him and let out a sigh so drained it seemed to come from the bottom of his soul. "I got reincarnated into another world, so why am I doing manual labor that's even harsher than in Japan? Where's my cheat ability? Where's my harem? Where's my adventurer life?"
Kōichi patted him on the shoulder. Even though he was exhausted too, he still forced out a bitter smile. "Accept it, Kazuma. As long as that blue one is around, any plan that relies on luck or finesse is going to explode. Only this kind of job, where you get paid as long as you put in the effort, is our safe harbor."
Yes, the two of them had chosen to haul bricks.
To pay off that enormous debt of 2,000 Eris, and to make sure they could at least eat a decent meal tonight, the three of them had come to the site where the city walls were being expanded.
Originally, Kōichi and Kazuma had assumed that if they brought a pampered Goddess like Aqua to do this kind of rough labor, she would complain nonstop, twist her ankle within five minutes, or maybe throw a shovel at the foreman's head.
But once again, reality slapped both of them hard in the face, and in a way they had never expected.
"Heave-ho! Heave-ho! This little bit of stone is nothing to a Goddess!"
Not far away, Aqua was carrying a gigantic stone pillar, one that normally needed three full-grown men to lift, and striding across the construction site like it weighed nothing.
Her slender arms, which were supposed to be for casting magic, were now unleashing shocking brute strength.
"Hey! That blue-haired girl over there! Amazing!" the foreman shouted excitedly, waving the plans in his hand. "I've never seen such a capable rookie before! And that cement mix is flawless too! You were born to be a builder!"
"Hmph! Of course I was!" Aqua smugly wiped the dust off her nose, which only made her face even dirtier. "My control over water is divine! Mixing cement is child's play for me! Bring me another cart of bricks! This Goddess is about to show you what Goddess Speed really means!"
Watching Aqua absolutely thrive on the construction site, even ending up surrounded by the workers like the center of attention, Kōichi and Kazuma sank into deep self-doubt.
"Hey, Kōichi..." Kazuma pushed a heavy wheelbarrow, his legs shaking with every step. "Why? Why is that idiot doing better than we are? Just how high is her strength stat?"
Panting heavily, Kōichi passed a brick to the worker beside him. "Don't forget, she's a Goddess. Her intelligence is low and her luck is terrible, but her physical stats and artistic talent are maxed out. A job like this, one that needs no brains and only strength and instinct, is practically her ideal calling."
"Damn it... I'm actually getting jealous..." Kazuma stared at the bottle of iced milk the foreman had just handed Aqua, his face twisted with envy. "I want to be praised too! I want iced milk too! Why am I just some ordinary brick hauler?!"
That day, a legend appeared on the construction sites of Axel.
A blue-haired Goddess single-handedly completed half a work crew's load.
The walls she laid were straight as a line. The cement she mixed was in perfect proportion. And when she carried heavy loads, she looked downright heroic doing it.
Meanwhile, the two men trailing behind her looked like a pair of exhausted dead dogs, tongues practically hanging out, mechanically repeating the same hauling motions, with all light gone from their eyes.
By dusk, the foreman walked over carrying three money bags.
"Here! This is your pay for today!" The foreman tossed two pitifully flat money bags to Kōichi and Kazuma, then held out a bulging one to Aqua with both hands, his face full of smiles. "Aqua-san, this one's yours! There's a bonus in there too! You have to come back tomorrow! This site can't do without you!"
"Whoa! That much?!" Aqua hugged the money bag, her eyes turning into coins. "Don't worry, mister! As long as you pay me, I'll come back tomorrow! I'm even going to finish that wall over there too!"
Kōichi and Kazuma looked at the miserable few coins in their own hands, 500 Eris each, then at the huge bag in Aqua's arms, at least 3,000 Eris, and felt the cruel disparity of the world deep in their bones.
"Let's go." Kōichi patted Kazuma on the back, sounding like a man weathered by life. "At least... we can pay off the debt now. And tonight we'll finally get a full meal."
"Yeah..." Kazuma shed tears of regret. "If we'd known she was this useful, why the hell were we even trying honey traps? We should've just brought her here to haul bricks from the start..."
Dragging their exhausted bodies, mainly Kōichi and Kazuma, the three of them headed for the guild tavern.
The setting sun stretched their shadows long. One of those shadows was still bouncing along energetically, while the other two were hunched over like a pair of elderly men at the end of their lives.
Axel's morning was bright and beautiful, full of sunshine, birdsong, and fragrant air.
And yet, for certain people, it was the beginning of hell.
"Why... why did it turn out like this..."
Kōichi and Kazuma walked down the road toward the construction site like a pair of living corpses, dragging their heavy steps behind them.
The dark circles under their eyes were worse than a panda's, their cheeks were hollow, and their eyes were vacant, as though all their life force had been sucked dry.
Meanwhile, Aqua, walking ahead of them, was still as lively and energetic as ever.
She hummed some little tune under her breath, walking with a light spring in her step, blue hair fluttering in the wind, with a bottle of premium juice in her hand, bought on credit, of course.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Kōichi! Kazuma! The foreman said he's going to teach me how to build an archway today! And he's even giving me an extra chicken leg!" Aqua turned around and waved excitedly, completely oblivious to the resentment pouring off her two teammates behind her, so thick it could practically have condensed into black evil spirits.
Three days earlier, just when the three of them had finally paid off the 2,000 Eris debt and thought they could at last breathe a little easier, disaster struck.
That idiot Goddess who had somehow seized control of the finances revealed her utterly catastrophic attitude toward spending at the guild tavern.
"Boss! Bring out the most expensive booze you've got! I want the kind that glows! And that roast whole pig over there that looks delicious! And that! That! That too! Bring me everything!"
Back then, Kōichi and Kazuma had tried to stop her, only to be shut down by Aqua with, "This is money this Goddess worked hard to earn! I'll spend it however I want!"
With all the adventurers around her cheering her on and flattering her, she got completely carried away, to the point that she even generously bought a round for the whole tavern.
The result was that that single dinner not only burned through the remaining 2,000 Eris, it also left them 8,000 Eris in debt to the tavern.
The next day, the three of them hauled bricks like mad to pay off that 8,000.
Aqua was still the main breadwinner and made quite a bit.
But on the way home, she got sweet-talked by a scam artist selling a lucky pot, spent every last coin she had, and even took out a high-interest loan to buy a worthless jar.
On the third day, the three of them kept hauling bricks to pay back both the tavern debt and the loan shark.
At the construction site, Aqua tried to show off her divine power and accidentally smashed a newly built wall, and the compensation only made their situation worse.
And so, as the debt snowballed bigger and bigger, the three of them were completely reduced to slaves of the construction site.
"Thirty thousand Eris..." Kazuma stared at his palms, covered in calluses and blisters. "Are we going to be hauling bricks here for the rest of our lives? Until we die?"
Kōichi sighed and slung the shovel over his shoulder. "As long as that spendthrift woman is still around, we could keep hauling bricks into the next life and still never pay it off. We need to figure out a way to take the finances back. Or... find a way to make even more money."
"A way to make more money?" A faint glimmer lit up Kazuma's dead eyes. "Don't tell me we're going to rob a Demon King's Army general?"
"What the hell are you talking about? I said we need to take back control of the money!"
Just then, the foreman's familiar booming voice interrupted their scheming.
"Hey! Aqua-san! You finally made it! Everybody's been waiting for you! Today's job is building the new fountain plaza! If you can get the water flowing over there, your bonus doubles!"
"Really?! That's amazing!" Aqua cheered, tossing the juice to Kōichi like she was handing it to a servant. "Hold this for me! This Goddess is about to show you what she can do!"
Watching her cheerful retreating figure, Kōichi and Kazuma exchanged a glance and silently picked up their shovels.
"Let's just finish hauling today's bricks first," Kazuma said through tears.
"Yeah. For dinner."
Kōichi answered with tears in his eyes too.