Swimmingly!

"There's the big lumbering brute..." Kazuma mused as they hid in the bushes.

"Yep... And there's the troll," Fio grinned, looking right at Cremea as she said that.

"Hey! I'm not a big lumbering brute!" Cremea huffed.

"So how do we go about this?" Kazuma asked.

"...well, we could go in and beat it to ****," Cremea suggested.

"Don't even think about it," Kazuma deadpanned. "Wait, I got it. Fio?"

"Hmm?" Fio asked.

"Shoot it, I've got the next step," Kazuma stated.

"Done!" Fio grinned, taking aim with her crossbow and firing. The bolt hit the troll... Right in the ass.

As the troll howled and jumped around in comical pain, Kazuma started sniggering. "Well, that got his attention!"

The troll whipped around and roared, brandishing its mace as it lumbered over to them. "Yes, it did, so what the hell was step two?" Cremea asked Kazuma.

"Watch and learn," Kazuma smirked. "Create Water!" he shouted, dousing the troll, and making it blink, looking around in confusion.

"...that was it?" Fio blinked in confusion, even as she finished reloading.

"Freeze!" Kazuma shouted, and the water pooled around the troll froze over as it resumed its charge... And slipped over the newly made ice, thudding heavily to the ground, bashing its head on a rock. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Kazuma cackled as he and Cremea charged the dazed creature before it had a chance to recover. The poor beast never stood a chance from that point.

...

"Alright, alright, we admit it, you're not cowardly, just smart about how you fight," Fio told Kazuma as they casually walked back to town.

"I have to be... After all, my teammates are cripplingly overspecialized, so I have to fill in the gaps. It's why I didn't advance out of the Adventurer class, it's more generalist, and suits my fighting style. We can't all be almighty warriors, bravely facing foes head on..."

"I suppose not," Cremea acknowledged.

"It WAS a nice change of pace doing things with just you two though," Kazuma remarked. "We should go out more."

"G-go out!?" Fio blushed. "This wasn't a date!"

"Relax, I was kidding," Kazuma chortled at the two blushing girls. The two stared at his back as he kept walking, the blushes not going away.

Before long, they reached Axel Town's main gate... And encountered a rather familiar, and haggard looking party of four. They were all scratched up, twigs in their hair and clothing, and filthy, and the party leader had an absolutely traumatized look in his eyes.

Kazuma and Kyouya stared at each other for several seconds, before Kazuma smirked. "So... Would you prefer your crow to be medium rare, or well done?" he asked pleasantly.