Chapter 60: CH 59

Chapter 59 – Kuzuhara’s Resolve

“Why do you want me to not destroy the Core?” (Komon)

I decided to ask him for the reason since I thought it would be an important point in this request. However, Kuzuhara’s answer to my question was silence.

Is it really that difficult to say?

After a while, he opened his mouth and let out a big sigh before speaking.

“I guess I have to tell you, otherwise it won’t make sense…” (Kuzuhara)

As if he had made up his mind, Kuzuhara looked me in the eyes.

“Actually, I made a bet with a certain person.” (Kuzuhara)

“A bet?” (Komon)

“The bet was about which of us would be the first to clear the dungeon and destroy the Core—as a way to show which one of us is the superior one.” (Kuzuhara)

“…Who is this guy that you made the bet with?” (Komon)

“―A man named Ryudou Eiichi.” (Kuzuhara)

As expected…

From the way that the conversation was flowing, I knew that it would be that guy without a doubt, but I didn’t expect this request to be directly related to him.

“…I believe he’s the leader of the force that you’ve been in conflict with.” (Komon)

“Hmph, you know about him, too? Well… it’s not that strange if you knew about that earlier incident.” (Kuzuhara)

That incident… From the way he had spoken, it seemed that Ryudou had something to do with it as well. From Ryudou’s underling, I heard that about five years ago, Kuzuhara had killed someone and was sent to juvenile prison as a result.

According to the rumors, the two of them had gotten into a brawl, but because the other person brought out a gun first, Kuzuhara had no choice but to use his knife to kill him before they could fire.

The other person wasn’t an upstanding individual, and it was apparently judged that Kuzuhara had no intention of killing him, so he was only sentenced to five years in juvenile prison.

However, as far as I knew, Ryudou’s existence had never been mentioned in this situation…

“For a long time now, he and I have been butting heads at every turn. After I finished serving my sentence, he reached out to me as if he was waiting for me. Simply put, he wanted me to take him under my wing. Of course I refused, but he didn’t like that. After that, he kept on getting in my way.” (Kuzuhara)

Hearing it this way, Ryudou’s obsession with Kuzuhara seemed unusual. If Ryudou were a woman, he’d definitely be the yandere type.

(TL: Yandere – a type of woman that is usually described as having an unhealthy level of romantic obsession and possessiveness which usually borders on insanity.)

“That asshole isn’t only going after me, he’s going after my friends too. Of course, it made me absolutely livid. So I decided to settle things with him.” (Kuzuhara)

“Settle things… Is that what you mean to do this time?” (Komon)

“Yeah, that’s right. Whoever loses the bet has to obey the other person’s word.” (Kuzuhara)

“That’s… quite a crazy bet you’ve made. I really question your sanity.” (Komon)

Who would be stupid enough to take such a high-risk bet? Well, clearly there was someone here who would.

“…..Do you know what he’s trying to do in this devastated world?” (Kuzuhara)

“No.” (Komon)

I knew, but I pretended not to know here.

“He intends to attack all of the upstanding people and kill them all without question. Men, women… children, it doesn’t matter who they are. In the process, he’s been abducting the good-looking women and violating them as he pleases. He’s complete scum.” (Kuzuhara)

Yeah, I agree with that much. Ryudou’s behavior wasn’t something that I could sympathize with. Even if he was rich, I wouldn’t want to get close to him.

“…It’s my fault that he changed so much.” (Kuzuhara)

“Eh?” (Komon)

“Ah, no. Forget what I said just now. Anyway, if I don’t stop him, there’ll be even more miserable people in this world from here on out. Well, I just want to protect my own guys. That’s why I―”

Kuzuhara’s cold voice tore through the quiet atmosphere as he spoke.

“―will kill Ryudou Eiichi.” (Kuzuhara)

After that, Kuzuhara straightened his posture and bowed his head to me.

“That’s why… Please lend me your strength.” (Kuzuhara)

The reason why he didn’t want to talk about this was surely because it was related to killing someone else. Normally, no one would want to lend their aid to someone who was dangerous. If he told me about this, there was a chance that I would refuse. That was why he didn’t tell me at first.

“…Why did you tell me this so honestly? You didn’t plan to tell me this at first, did you?” (Komon)

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“We’re already labeled as evil. I already bear the word ‘evil’ on my back. I can’t let the meaning behind this word be sullied. This word is a commandment to me.” (Kuzuhara)

A commandment…?

“Evil has its own moral code. And I have no intention of making use of people through lies and deceit,” Kuzuhara declared unwaveringly as he gazed straight into my eyes.

That look in Kuzuhara’s eyes… was one that Ohsaka would probably hate seeing if he were here. He had a strong, resolute conviction within himself which couldn’t be swayed by anything. That was the same feeling I held against Ohsaka…no, all of the people who bullied me.

…Maybe the reason why I had a slight liking towards this guy was because I felt that he had the same look in his eyes that I did.

Well, I wasn’t as straight and direct as this guy, and I wasn’t someone that people adored and strived to follow after. Therefore, rather than having a liking towards him, I felt more like I disliked him because he was similar to me.

Still, it was a request that had plenty of potential profits behind it. I had no reason to refuse.

“…Fine. I, Komon Shiina, will accept this request.”

—

After accepting Kuzuhara’s request, I was paid ¥20,000,000 up front. Then, I went to visit Ohsaka High School to see what had happened to the place since my last visit because I’d actually have to conquer the dungeon here in the near future.

This was my second time visiting since the world had transformed. That said, I was only confirming it from a distance.

The first time, the school was surrounded by many police cars and ambulances, but now there was hardly anyone around, making it look like a ghost town.

I thought for sure that the police force or someone else had cleared the place, but upon closer inspection, it was possible to see monsters on the school grounds. It was clear that the dungeon here still hadn’t been conquered.

Most likely, the police had retreated after rescuing the students and teachers that had been trapped in the building. It was understandable. No matter how many weapons they poured into defeating the monsters, they would continue to respawn after a certain amount of time if the police didn’t know about the existence of the Core.

No matter how they fought and fought, there was nothing they could do against the countless monsters that seemed to continuously appear.

Besides, there was also a fact that neither the Apostles of Peace nor the Inochi-shirazu knew—that it was possible for monsters to have Dungeon Cores inside of them.

In that case, no matter how much they searched, they wouldn’t be able to find the Core. Some might decide that perhaps the dungeon didn’t have a Core and would give up on trying to clear it.

It was only by a mere coincidence that I’d managed to discover this fact. If I hadn’t become aware of this, I would have given up on the search for the Core and retreated.

The school was large. The difficulty level of the dungeon attack would be approaching the level of a large-scale dungeon. If that was the case, then it was very likely for there to be a monster that possessed a Dungeon Core this time.

After all, the difficulty level would definitely increase. Perhaps dungeons that were medium-scale and bigger were just designed like that.

However, medium-scale dungeons could also follow the usual pattern of small-scale dungeons, so they didn’t necessarily always have a monster that had a Dungeon Core within. Considering the scale of the dungeonized school, it was better to assume that the boss monster was the Dungeon Core.

I still hadn’t told Kuzuhara, but I wondered if Ryudou already knew. If he didn’t know, then the battle was in our favor.

However, there was one problem.

The boss monster that has a Core inside of it… It’s a pain to say, so I’ll just call it a Core Monster from now on. The question was whether or not Kuzuhara was capable of defeating a Core Monster.

To be frank, it would be difficult… or rather, it would probably be close to impossible for him. The Core Monster was definitely higher than C-Rank, since there were already quite a few C-Rank monsters wandering around the area.

B-Rank… If we were unlucky, it might even be comparable to an A-Rank. There was no way that an ordinary person with no skills whatsoever, armed with only regular weapons, could take down a monster that even I might not be a match for.

That was probably why the police had abandoned this place.

Why did they go out of their way to choose such a difficult dungeon to clear?

¥100,000,000 might not even be worth it for doing this.

Well, since he said that the compensation would be based on performance, I could just demand a more suitable amount of compensation after clearing the dungeon. To that end… let’s see. Perhaps it would be good to set up a scenario where I end up saving Kuzuhara’s life.

It would be easier to pull off something like that if I was by his side in the dungeon.

Huh? Me, black-hearted? Of course, I’m a businessman. It’s purely a relationship based on profit after all.

“But even I’m thinking that this isn’t looking too optimistic, this entire operation.”

I could put Sol and Shiki to full use, but that would require me to explain things to Kuzuhara and his gang.

“….Well, whatever. If that ended up happening, I could just explain that I forced them to surrender and that they were now under my control.”

Either way, there wasn’t anyone who knew about the habits of monsters. I could just say that not all of them harmed humans and that it was possible for some of them to recognize and follow us humans.

Regardless of the truth, the possibility of monsters becoming the allies of humans wasn’t zero.

“That said, if there’s an A-Rank monster, even Shiki would have a hard time with it… Shiki.” (Bouchi)

“Yes, milord.” (Shiki)

Shiki appeared from the shadows like a real ninja.

“For now, I’ve already had Sol investigate the interior of the school. If there are any monsters that are B-Rank and above, I’ll need you to go up a rank.” (Bouchi)

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