The Nursery Teacher In The Shopping District

I decided to prepare a meal using some water and pasta that hadn’t fit into the Shadow Bag. There was a portable gas stove and an aluminum pot in the back room. Perhaps the employees had used them to prepare simple meals.

The only seasoning available was some ketchup left among the store’s inventory. I ate the resulting dish, which resembled Napolitan pasta without any other ingredients. It was my first Napolitan in six months, and the flavor was rather monotonous.

“But it tastes pretty good. Maybe that’s because it’s been so long since I’ve had a proper cooked meal.”

I devoured it in no time.

After finishing my meal, I packed the portable gas stove, the washed pot, and the remaining supplies into my backpack and hoisted it onto my shoulders. It was quite heavy, but now that I’d leveled up and grown stronger, the weight hardly bothered me.

I left the convenience store and headed east. Before leaving Saikyo Town, I encountered and defeated two Wild Boars. When I brought my hammer down on a Wild Boar’s forehead with all my strength, the enormous beast staggered as though it had suffered a concussion.

After that, I kept hammering away until I finished it off. Killing an enormous boar with a hammer was difficult, but I discovered that the strength I’d gained through leveling up made it possible.

“I managed to kill them somehow, but a hammer really isn’t suitable as my main weapon. I need to get my hands on a proper weapon soon.”

Shortly after leaving Saikyo Town and entering Tennoji Town, I encountered a monster with the face of a pig.

“Oink!”

It stood approximately 190 centimeters tall and had the physique of an obese professional wrestler. It wore nothing but a pair of tattered shorts and carried a large butcher’s knife. It looked powerful, though not particularly quick.

“Is that… an Orc?”

The creature raised its butcher’s knife and attacked. We were roughly the same height, but its body was about twice as thick as mine. The sheer intimidation of its approach was almost comparable to that of a Minotaur.

Perhaps because of that, I panicked slightly. My reaction was delayed for an instant. Even so, I narrowly dodged its slash and slammed my hammer into the Orc’s head. Its enormous, wrestler-like body swayed.

The blow seemed to have hurt it, but a single strike wasn’t enough to bring it down. I repeatedly hammered the creature. In desperation, the Orc began swinging its butcher’s knife wildly.

“Whoa! That was close!”

I instinctively jumped backward to avoid the attack. I needed to do something about that butcher’s knife before it got me killed. I waited for an opening, then brought my hammer down on the arm holding the weapon. The butcher’s knife flew from the Orc’s hand.

Only then did I remember my Flame Manipulation ability. I extended my left hand and pointed my palm toward the Orc. Then I pressed the [Flame Jet] switch deep within my mind.

Flames erupted from my left hand and scorched the Orc’s face. The creature retreated while shielding itself from the flames with its hands. I picked up the butcher’s knife it had dropped and plunged it into its owner’s stomach.

Apparently, that was a fatal blow. The Orc crumbled into countless particles, which transformed into a darkness-attribute Heartstone. However, something strange happened. The butcher’s knife I was holding didn’t disappear.

Even the enormous axe wielded by the Minotaur had vanished when its owner died, yet the butcher’s knife I’d taken from the Orc remained.

Why? Why hadn’t it disappeared? Could it be because I’d taken the weapon away from the Orc? I carefully examined the butcher’s knife. It measured approximately fifty centimeters in overall length, with a blade around thirty-five centimeters long. The handle was made from something resembling stone.

“This should work as a weapon.”

When I encountered another Orc, I decided to conduct an experiment. I severed the arm holding its butcher’s knife. However, after I finished off the Orc, its butcher’s knife disappeared as well.

“Why? What was different about the first Orc?”

Could it be because I’d killed the first Orc using its own butcher’s knife? Perhaps doing so had transferred something resembling ownership of the weapon from the Orc to me.

The next time I encountered an Orc, I killed it using the butcher’s knife I’d taken from it. My theory proved correct. That butcher’s knife didn’t disappear either. I now had two butcher’s knives in my possession.

“I see. So that’s how I can take ownership of these monsters’ belongings.”

Continuing east while conducting my dangerous experiments, I passed through Tennoji Town and entered Inuyama Town. It was a small town with a shopping district that had once been bustling with activity.

Now, however, not a single person could be seen. Several cars had been abandoned along the shopping street, still piled together from a chain-reaction collision.

The shutters of the shops lining the street had been forced open, and their interiors had been ransacked. Stores that had sold food had been particularly thoroughly looted. I looked inside a supermarket near the center of the shopping district. Its windows were smashed, and the interior had been ransacked. It was just like the convenience store.

Just then, I sensed something fighting nearby. I cautiously headed toward the source to find out what was happening. I held out hope that it might be another human being.

“Stay away from me!”

At the back of the supermarket, a woman around twenty years old was struggling against an ugly little monster. The creature appeared to belong to a species called Goblins. It had green skin, stood approximately 130 centimeters tall, and carried a club.

The woman was retreating while holding something resembling a kitchen knife in front of her.

“Gughehe!”

The Goblin attacked with a strange cry. I rushed over and slashed its back from behind. The single strike brought it down. The Heartstone it left behind was black, suggesting that Goblins possessed the darkness attribute.

“Are you all right?”

The woman looked at me, her face frozen in terror. Then she nodded shakily.

“Are you from the Mitarai Group?”

I didn’t understand why she was asking that, but I told her I wasn’t.

“I see. Thank you very much for saving me.”

Only then did I notice that the woman was incredibly cute. Moreover, her eyes weren’t brown or black, but blue. Apparently, she wasn’t entirely of Japanese descent and had some European ancestry.

“I’m Kojiro Maki. I’m a university student.”

“I’m Elena. I work as a nursery teacher in Higashikami Town.”

She gave only her first name, omitting her surname. Finding that a little suspicious, I pressed her about it. Apparently, her surname was Onikuma, and she didn’t like being addressed by it.

“By the way, I’d like you to explain what’s been happening. What’s become of Japan?”

Elena tilted her head. The gesture was adorable.

“I spent about six months on a small island, and I’ve only just managed to get back to Yaso City.”

“Then you don’t know about everything that happened?”

“Please tell me.”

According to Elena, an earthquake had struck the entire world on the day everyone first heard that mysterious voice. Earthquakes weren’t particularly unusual in Japan, but apparently, they had caused widespread panic in countries where people had rarely, if ever, experienced them.

From that moment onward, incidents involving rampaging monsters began occurring. Apparently, the frequency of these incidents was particularly high in urban areas. In addition, monsters appeared in oil-producing regions and destroyed petroleum extraction facilities.

Around that time, monsters were rampaging through Japan’s cities. To make matters worse, strange birds called Magnebu Birds, which attacked anything emitting electromagnetic waves, began flying around and destroying cellular communication relay equipment. Mobile phones and smartphones stopped working as a result. Radio and television broadcasts were also disrupted for the same reason.

The Magnebu Birds also destroyed electrical facilities and high-voltage power lines because those installations emitted electromagnetic waves as well. Blackouts spread throughout Japan, and many people chose to stay indoors and endure the situation. They hoped the government would take action.

With smartphones, televisions, and other familiar sources of information no longer functioning, people turned to computers to obtain news. Those who could still exchange information through email and similar means hadn’t panicked at that point. However, the situation changed when hordes of Orcs began rampaging through Tokyo and brutally slaughtering people.

Large numbers of people suddenly began collapsing for unknown reasons. Rumors spread that a mysterious infectious disease was running rampant. However, it was eventually discovered that the cause wasn’t an infection but toxins exhaled by the monsters.

People began fleeing the urban areas where monsters appeared in large numbers. Unfortunately, the monsters attacked those attempting to escape, triggering widespread panic.

“They say fewer than half the people managed to escape into rural or mountainous areas.”

“Seriously? All that happened in just six months…?”

After learning what had happened during the six months I’d spent on the island, I asked Elena what she was doing here.

“I was looking for food. Even those of us who escaped into the countryside are struggling with food shortages.”

“But isn’t it dangerous for a woman to come alone into a town full of Goblins?”

“I didn’t have a choice. I’m the only one who has the Poison Resistance skill…”

Apparently, only people who possessed the Poison Resistance skill could safely venture into areas inhabited by Aberrant Beasts. Since I had the same skill, I’d apparently been protected as well.

“So, did you manage to find any food?”

“No. The Goblin found me before I could find anything.”

I looked around the supermarket. There didn’t appear to be any food left on the display shelves. Remembering the convenience store, I decided to check the back room.

The entrance to this store’s back room was on the south side. I opened the door and went inside, where I found the remains of cardboard boxes scattered across the floor. Apparently, this area had been ransacked too.

“Looks like there’s nothing here either.”

“Other people must have searched this place already.”

“I suppose so. And I came all this way despite the danger…”

Elena looked frustrated.

I surveyed the back room and noticed that something which should definitely have been there was missing: a hand truck for transporting heavy objects. Had someone taken it? But a hand truck would be inconvenient to use outdoors. Would anyone really have bothered carrying it away?

I couldn’t rule out the possibility that someone had taken it, thinking it might prove useful. Then I happened to glance at the floor and noticed marks that looked as though something heavy had been dragged across it. The marks led toward a fire door.

“Could it be…?”

I opened the fire door. Beyond it, I discovered something resembling a small storage room. In one corner, a folding hand truck had been left neatly folded away.

“All right!”

I couldn’t help shouting in delight.