Chapter 36: CH 35

Chapter 35 – New Business

TL: This is the start of Volume 2, the ‘Emerging Skill Users Arc’.

“There are some strange people out there, huh? Selling food in this day and age?” (Jouichirou)

It had already been one month since the world had transformed. The stores and businesses that had been functioning at first had almost all shut down by now in fear of the monsters and looters.

With the value of money dropping near zero, food was now more valuable than gold, silver, and other material treasures. Everyone had to search for food now in order to survive to the next day. People would raid convenience stores and department stores without question, pillaging and stealing food.

Some of them were even breaking into people’s houses and robbing them. Normally, the police would be involved in such cases, but they didn’t have any time for that now. After all, buildings were being turned into dungeons all over the country. They were so busy dealing with those situations that they didn’t have the time to spare for mere burglaries.

Japan had now become a completely lawless zone, and everyone was living in fear and anxiety. In such a situation, there couldn’t be an existence who would still be selling food, the most valuable commodity. It would have been better to save it for oneself in order to survive.

However, the fact that Kaiba was selling such valuable food to others, even if it was for the sake of business, made him a small hero around here.

“But all the ingredients are fresh and have the richest flavors I have ever tasted. Where in the world does he get such things…?” (Minako)

At the <Shop>, of course? But the meat was all monster meat.

This was probably something only I was personally capable of, but defeating monsters meant that you could obtain the monster’s meat, bones, and other parts. Almost all of the meat I sold to others was [Orc Meat], which was a higher grade than ordinary pork, and was very tasty.

Aside from that, I was also purchasing fantasy items from the <Shop> and selling them at a high price. The residents of this upscale, affluent neighborhood were very generous with their money, and it was like heaven for me. It made my heart beat with excitement.

However, I didn’t intend to stay here permanently. I was thinking of setting up several locations and doing business around them as my main focus. I was thinking that it was about time to leave the Fukuzawa residence and move on to another base location, but…

…Yeah, it was really cozy here.

After all, it didn’t cost any money. Oh? Didn’t I already say that earlier? But man, it was seriously the best. Right now, I had the money and ability to go live a quiet life deep in the mountains.

But when it came to dealing with monsters, there were still a lot of things I was uneasy about. There were purchasable means to counter them, but they always had a proportionate price.

Monsters were ranked according to their strength, with the lowest rank being F-Rank. There was a weapon that I had used to fight and defeat a C-Rank Monster.

It was the [Explosive Rifle], which had cost me ¥15,000,000. It automatically generated bullets and was powerful enough, but it couldn’t be fired in rapid succession. Plus, if I got too close to it, I could be caught up in the explosion.

It would probably be difficult to defeat a B-Rank monster with it, since the difference in one rank was quite large.

In other words, to defeat a monster that was B-Rank or higher, I would need a more powerful weapon. But they were expensive.

There was an item called [War Dynamite] which worked on B-Rank monsters, but it cost ¥20,000,000 even though it could only be used once. Did that put it into perspective now? In other words, if I met a high-rank monster, no amount of money would ever be enough if I wanted to survive.

If I encountered an A-Rank or S-Rank monster, 100 or 200 million yen was not enough to survive. That was exactly why I was using each day to the fullest to try and steadily amass money.

Well, I think I could at least manage to escape in my current state. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t spare any effort to increase my chances of survival, even if it was only by a little bit.

—

As I was laying on my bed after dinner, a small shadow flew into the room through the half-open window and landed beside me without a sound.

“―Master.” (Sol)

“…?! Oh, it’s you, Sol. Man… You scared me.” (Bouchi)

“S-Sorry!” (Sol)

Owls were capable of noiseless flight. Sol flew silently at an ultra-fast speed, so there hadn’t been any sign of her at all. Besides, I hadn’t been trained to detect movements from the slightest changes in the air.

“Did you find anything?” (Bouchi)

“Yes. Actually, about two kilometers east of here, five buildings became dungeonized at once.” (Sol)

“Five? All at once?” (Bouchi)

“That’s right. As I was observing them, it all happened at almost the same time.” (Sol)

“Perhaps the end goal is to turn the world itself into a dungeon…?” (Bouchi)

Who was behind this? Or perhaps this was just an unfortunate calamity? It wasn’t certain, but the rate at which humans would be eliminated would only rapidly accelerate in the future.

“Master, about that dungeonized building…” (Sol)

“Hm? Do you still have more to report?” (Bouchi)

“Yes. A group of humans have apparently conquered it.” (Sol)

“…! What do you mean…?” (Bouchi)

I inadvertently sat up in my bed.

“A group of humans? Not the JSDF or the police?” (Bouchi)

Sol already knew about the existence of those organizations, so unless it wasn’t them, she wouldn’t have bothered to mention a group of humans.

“It was an armed group of humans. I believe they weren’t part of the police or some state organization.” (Sol)

“Hmm… Very interesting. In other words, those ordinary civilians didn’t have the intention of continuing to take it lying down, huh?” (Bouchi)

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According to Sol, they didn’t have any drilled coordination like the JSDF did, and their strength on both an individual and group level was lousy. However, they made up for it with numbers, and they managed to push their way into the dungeon and clear it by destroying the Core.

“You mean that group knew they could clear the dungeon by destroying the Core?” (Bouchi)

“It seems so. There was also someone leading the group.” (Sol)

“Well, that’s not surprising. What did that person look like?” (Bouchi)

“It was a man in his forties.” (Sol)

She continued on, noting that he wasn’t just commanding, but he was also fighting the monsters on the front line. Also, this man apparently had no wasted movements, making excellent use of his gun and knife.

“A gun, huh…? Well, in today’s world, it isn’t that difficult to get a gun, if you think about it.” (Bouchi)

Even Ohsaka had one. There were plenty of ways to get one.

“That man who was leading seemed to be recruiting people and conquering dungeon after dungeon.” (Sol)

“I see. In other words, to the cowardly masses, this man is the definition of a hero.” (Bouchi)

As far as I had heard, there were plenty of people with guns, but they could only do so much. At best, it could work against F-Rank and maybe E-Rank monsters.

Even the JSDF had a hard time dealing with monsters that were D-Rank and higher, so this group of ordinary people wouldn’t stand a chance—at least not with their current combat ability. The dungeonized buildings they had dealt with this time were small in scale, so the monsters were weak.

The true crossroads would be in the future, if they were to challenge a mid-scale dungeon. Would those guys get wiped out by the unreasonable difficulty of the dungeon, or…

“…Weapons, huh?” (Bouchi)

“Master?” (Sol)

“No, I’m just thinking that there might be a business selling weapons to such armed groups.” (Bouchi)

“Ah, I see!” (Sol)

“Should I call myself ‘Arms Dealer of Death’ this time? Hahah, the risk for this business might be quite high.” (Bouchi)

The ordinary citizens were one thing, but the possession of weapons was more important than anything for armed groups. It was their lifeline. Even if there were useful arms dealers, would these groups be willing to negotiate with them in a completely honest, aboveboard manner? They might not want to pay and end up threatening with force. ‘Hand over all of your weapons if you don’t wanna die’… or something like that.

The chances of something like that occurring was pretty high. It might be different if the armed force was a group that had a lot of money. But against groups formed by ordinary people, it might not be possible to deal with them right up front. In times like these, the internet would’ve been so helpful, being able to interact with people without having to meet them face to face and all…

“Come to think of it, there was an item like that, right…?”

I opened the <Shop> and began to search for the product I had thought of.

“Ooh, this looks good―[Copy Doll]. For 24 hours, it can imitate the designated target.”

In other words, it could imitate me and act as another me during that time. However, it was unfortunate that the copy couldn’t use the <Shop> skill, and it would return to its original appearance after 24 hours.

“One costs ¥1,500,000, huh…? I feel like I’m gradually becoming numb to spending so much money.”

“Hoh, so it’s like this? It’s like a clay doll.”

It was basically a human-shaped clay doll. Embedding a part of an object or being, no matter what it was, would make the doll transform into that target object and imitate it. For starters, I plucked out a hair and planted it into the clay doll.

With jerky, twisting movements, the doll gradually began to transform and grow in size until it mimicked my appearance. Standing there before me was a person that looked just like me. It was like looking into a mirror.

“Oooh, that’s amazing~. Can you talk?” (Bouchi)

“Of course. I’m your copy after all.” (Copy)

It felt somewhat strange… Staring myself straight in the face and talking to myself.

“Are my memories implanted in you as well? Hey, tell me my birthday.” (Bouchi)

“July 4.” (Copy)

“Yes, yes. What about my favorite food and what I hate?” (Bouchi)

“Favorite food is pizza. What I hate―human expectations.” (Copy)

“Haha, that’s right.” (Bouchi)

It was an answer that only I would know. I was glad to see that the copy’s memories were intact.

Even if it was a risky business, it could be done safely with this guy. If it was killed on the spot, only the [Copy Doll] would only be destroyed, and I wouldn’t die. Since the copy’s thoughts and thinking patterns were the same as mine, it would know what I did and didn’t want.

“Alright, all that’s left is how to reset it…”

On the back, there was something that looked like a black birthmark. After pressing on it for 3 seconds, it would return back into its doll form. After going ahead and doing just that, it functioned as expected, and I put the doll back into the <Box>.

“Master, will you start contacting that group tomorrow?” (Sol)

“Nope, I need to gather information first. We’re going to need to trace their movements.” (Bouchi)

“I see, I see. As expected of Master, always so thorough! After everything is ready, then…” (Sol)

“Yeah, it’ll be the debut of the Arms Dealer of Death.” (Bouchi)

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