Status

I woke up to a woman’s scream. I jumped to my feet and rushed out of my tent, only to find a commotion near the passengers’ tents. I immediately ran toward them.

“What happened?”

I asked Ririka. She had only recently graduated from university, so we were close in age, making her easy to talk to. The petite young woman answered with an anxious expression.

“Mika-san saw a huge rat. She said it was as big as a cat!”

Hearing about a giant rat, I immediately pictured a certain big-eared mouse that was popular at a famous theme park. But there was no way something like that would be on this island. Apparently, my brain wasn’t working properly just after waking up.

Then I remembered nutria, a type of large rodent that had apparently become increasingly popular as a pet.

“Could it have been a nutria?”

“Is that some kind of rat?”

“Yeah, it’s a large rodent native to South America. Apparently, they’re imported as pets.”

“Wow, you sure know a lot!”

Nagase approached us, looking a little pale.

“Hey, one of our staff members was bitten by a giant rat. When is the boat coming back?”

“It’s scheduled to return sometime this morning.”

“Contact the captain. Tell him to get back here as quickly as possible.”

“Understood. By the way, how badly was the staff member injured?”

“There’s quite a lot of bleeding.”

“In that case, I’ll get the first-aid kit first. We should treat the wound right away.”

Nagase clicked his tongue and raised his voice.

“If you’ve got something like that, hurry up and bring it here!”

You don’t have to yell, you short-tempered old geezer. Thinking that, I ran back to my tent. I grabbed the first-aid kit I’d brought from the boat and headed toward the injured person.

The injured man turned out to be Yodai. Apparently, he’d been bitten around his left ankle and had wrapped a towel around it to stop the bleeding. It looked painful, but the injury didn’t seem particularly serious.

“I brought the first-aid kit.”

I handed the kit to Nagase and returned to my tent to contact the boat.

I used the portable radio to call the cruiser.

“This is Maki. Can you hear me?”

After a short pause, the captain’s voice came through.

“I hear you. Did something happen?”

“One of the passengers was bitten by a rat and got injured. Can you come back any sooner?”

“We’ve already left port and are heading your way. Has the injured person received first aid?”

“They’re treating him right now.”

The captain asked about the extent of the injury and a few other details, so I told him everything I knew. He said they would arrive in about an hour. After ending the transmission, I felt somewhat relieved. We only had to wait another hour.

I went over to Nagase and told him the cruiser would return in approximately an hour.

“In that case, the question is whether we should continue the training as planned.”

What an overreaction. I couldn’t believe he was considering canceling the entire training trip just because someone had been bitten by a rat. Yodai’s wound was only a shallow cut about two centimeters long. Although I thought he should receive proper treatment at a hospital, it wasn’t serious enough to warrant such a fuss.

One of the male staff members came running over.

“Manager Nagase, we’ve got a problem! Shimizu-san is missing!”

Apparently, one of the male employees had left the tents to use the toilet and hadn’t returned.

“He went to the toilet, didn’t he? Maybe he’s just taking a little longer than usual.”

Compared to his reaction when Yodai was injured, Nagase seemed considerably less concerned. It was probably because Yodai belonged to the Mitarai family, while Shimizu was just an ordinary employee.

“But it’s already been thirty minutes!”

“Well, have you checked the toilet?”

“Yes, I have. There was nobody there.”

The toilet had been set up a short distance away from the tents. It was nothing more than a hole dug in the ground with blue plastic tarps arranged around it for privacy.

“Can’t be helped. Have a few of the male staff members search for him. You help them too.”

Nagase directed the last part at me. With an inward sigh, I headed toward the toilet. Three other male employees were also making their way there.

“All right, let’s split up and look for him.”

One of the employees made the suggestion, so I headed north toward the mountain. There was a small mountain approximately eighty meters high in the center of the island.

A forest of broadleaf trees grew in that direction, and I’d heard that animals such as squirrels and wild boars inhabited the area.

“Shimizu-san!”

I shouted as I searched for the missing employee. After about ten minutes, the bushes to my right suddenly rustled. I immediately became wary and hid behind a tree.

Please don’t let it be a wild boar. As I prayed silently, a black rabbit emerged from the undergrowth. I felt a little relieved.

“Man, that’s one huge rabbit. And it’s got a horn growing out of its head…”

Thinking I might have been seeing things, I took another look. There was no mistake. A horn approximately ten centimeters long protruded from the rabbit’s head.

The rabbit glared at me. There was unmistakable hostility in its eyes. I looked around for something I could use as a weapon. Fortunately, a long, narrow stone was lying nearby, so I picked it up.

“Stay the hell away from me.”

Ordinarily, a rabbit would be wary of humans and avoid approaching them, but this one kept coming closer. Suddenly, the rabbit leaped straight toward my chest.

“Whoa!”

I cried out and jumped sideways. My foot caught on a tree root, sending me sprawling to the ground. I wildly swung the stone in my hand, and by sheer luck, it struck the rabbit’s head.

The rabbit tumbled across the ground before staggering back to its feet. I had a chance to escape, but for some reason, my fighting instincts had been ignited. I lunged at the rabbit and smashed the stone against its head. I struck it again and again.

Suddenly, what had once been a rabbit lost its shape and dissolved into particles. The particles began gathering near its heart and condensed into a solid object. A small, black, coal-like stone about the size of a pachinko ball fell to the ground.

“W-What the hell? I don’t understand any of this!”

At that moment, another strange voice echoed inside my head.

My entire body suddenly felt as though it were on fire. Every muscle screamed in agony. Pain surged through my body as though it were being completely reconstructed.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

I thrashed and rolled across the ground in agony. It felt as though the pain continued for around ten minutes, but in reality, it seemed to have lasted only a little over ten seconds.

“Ugh, that hurt! What the hell was that?”

As I muttered to myself, the voice echoed inside my head once more.

“W-What the hell? What’s with this game-like thing?”

Something resembling a video game status screen had appeared inside my head. Had I hit my head during that fight?

Unable to comprehend what was happening, I stood there in a daze for about five minutes. I pinched my cheek, and it hurt. This wasn’t a dream. Somehow, I managed to regain my composure and confront the reality of the situation.

“All right, let’s check this thing out for now.”

My name and occupation were exactly as expected. I could also understand why my level was 01. However, without anything to compare them against, I had no way of knowing how impressive my Strength, Agility, Stamina, Dexterity, and Mental Ability values were.

As for Extrasensory Perception, I had no idea whether it was related to a sixth sense, spiritual awareness, or psychic abilities, or perhaps something like the magic commonly found in video games.

Next were Skill Points and Skill Selection. Judging by those two entries, I figured I could probably acquire some kind of skill. With that thought, I focused my attention on the Skill Selection option.

“Ah!”

Information about the available skills suddenly popped up inside my head. Five skills were displayed in a row: “Throwing Technique,” “Physical Resistance,” “Mental Resistance,” “Poison Resistance,” and “Lesser Heavenly Circuit.”

I had a rough idea of what the first four meant, but I had absolutely no clue what the last one, “Lesser Heavenly Circuit,” was supposed to do.

It was starting to feel like I was playing a game, and I found myself getting a little excited. After struggling to decide what to choose, I figured that if there were more horned rabbits around, I’d need some way to fight them. I selected “Throwing Technique.” As a result, knowledge of throwing techniques began flowing directly into my mind.

Detailed information about body movements, breathing techniques, eye movements, and other finer points became etched into my brain. I picked up a small stone and threw it at a beech tree about ten meters away.

The stone struck the beech tree. It left a mark on the trunk before bouncing off. The mark was shallow, suggesting that the stone hadn’t struck with much force. Even though the techniques were now in my head, my body couldn’t execute them accurately. In other words, I needed practice.

Tch! I’d thought learning the Throwing Technique skill would let me throw ridiculously fast pitches right away… Having to practice was such a pain.

Still, I understood that with enough practice, I’d eventually be able to take down a rabbit like the one I’d just fought with a single hit.