Professor Barton

Professor Barton is a somewhat famous wildlife researcher specializing in rare monsters. He wrote the book Professor Barton’s Monster Guide for Dummies.

Appearance
Barton is a youthful looking man with light colored hair and glasses. He is usually wearing a light colored coat.

Personality
Professor Barton insists or being called professor; after the success of his book, he refuses to respond to anything else. He has a habit if saying interesting factoids, before quickly dismissing any response or question of authenticity with phrases like "how should I know?" Many of his hypotheses are base only on his intuition or simply guessing, though the amount of things he's been accurate on implies he is legitimately knowledgable. While Barton is enthusiastic about his research, a large part of his motivation is to find a a way to date Barbara, a waitress at a bar. He is very comfortable around dangerous monsters despite his lack of combat ability, which often puts him in dangerous situations. Barton is one of the few people in the capital to not immediately recognize Iris, which implies some level of naivety or simply lack of interest in such things.

History
When Barton was a child he was close friends with Barbara. She eventually took on her debt-ridden family bar and he became washed up and largely unsuccessful researcher. Barbara frequently flirts with and dates other patrons of her bar, but Barton is always turned down.

He meets Megumin, Yunyun, and Iris at the Adventurer's Guild in the Capital. He recruits them to hunt down a rare and previously unseen variation of the Giant Toad called the King Toad, who's death will clear up the weather (according to Barton) and allow him to take Barbara on a date. His discovery of the King Toad leads him to become famous. He employs Megumin's group again for relationship advice, and together they search for the rare Crystal Liger to make an engagement ring. During the process Iris' necklace, a national treasure, is taken by the Liger. Megumin and Barton gets Kazuma, Aqua, and Darkness to retrieve the necklace. Barton is seen offering the ring to Barbara, and Megumin notes they both look very happy.