CH 18

Chapter 18. Failure

Hearing Ooki’s story, Sakimori immediately set off running. With the rain pouring down in earnest, he stepped through puddles of water with a crunching sound.

“I’m sorry, aniki. I wanted to show my good side to the boss who picked me up…”

He followed behind Sakimori while crying, but I understood the story. I understood.

In other words, what Sakimori had done in the past. He tried to burn the forest around the dungeon. He thought that if he burned a lot of goblins, he could get a lot of F-rank cores. He didn’t know what happens when slime burns.

And now, unlike in the past, monsters abound in many places. Because of what Ooki-kun did, the monsters gathered and became a stampede.

It’s not my fault that I built the store. I haven’t taken this situation, but I don’t care about the misfortunes that may have occurred due to the store’s appearance. To put it bluntly, it’s for the world’s salvation, and it’s no use thinking about every single individual’s happiness or unhappiness. Except for my people.

That’s Ooki’s fault. But it seems that he managed to escape. It’s a blessing in disguise. Because he was able to inform Shingen of the danger.

The monsters that gathered would have shown their ferocious nature and moved in groups to the surrounding area. If they’re goblins, they’re smart. Someone must guide the group to a nearby community to make it a feeding ground. Probably a C or D rank.

C rank would be the worst. Shingen’s community won’t stand for it. I’m sure of it because I’ve seen abandoned town communities crumble like that many times.

The abandoned town will change with the new store, but I don’t want the community controlled by Shingen, who is a rather good person, to collapse. I don’t want it to go under for me. I can’t afford to lose the markets I do business with.

I wish I could help people selflessly, like a righteous hero, but Sakimori laughs when it is solely for his own sake. I’m thinking of running away if the danger exceeds my tolerance. A real-life hero must be able to manage risk. It may not be cool, but the old man thinks so. It’s not as simple as saving the big and abandoning the small. He has to fight with various calculations: whether he’ll lose credibility, whether his life will be in danger, whether he needs to save them, and so on. It’s a hard world.

“Ooki. I’ll go first.”

I tell Ooki-kun lightly, who is running next to me, and sped up my steps. My strength is 20, which is probably a large number compared to Ooki-kun, who has muscle 7 or 8. I use my shadow magic to put on black and widen the gap, and when he is sure he can no longer see our faces, he mutters a few words.

[Change]

The mutter slightly changed my height, and the [Shadow Master] compensated to disguise his appearance.

“First, we’ll head to Shingen’s community.”

Shizuku accelerates with a gulp as she leans forward. The puddles of water were shuffling, raindrops were kicking up, and Shizuku began to run faster than an ordinary human.

It was a speed that could be called sprinting. Ooki-kun, who was out of breath and somehow trying to catch up, was stunned to see how quickly Sakimori was becoming smaller and smaller.

“What a speed…it’s not a human being can do. As expected of aniki…”

As such mutterings disappeared into the rain, Shizuku ran like a beast, tapping and leaving slight water ripples on the ground. To take the shortest route, she jumped into the window of a house in an abandoned town, spun around once and ran through the house, then went out the back door, kicked the wall of an abandoned building, crossed the wall blocking the street, and stomped over an abandoned car without stopping her momentum, heading for her destination as if she was flying.

And so Shizuku arrives at Shingen’s community with a speed that even a motorized bike would lose if it didn’t accelerate to full throttle.

After changing and returning to my ordinary form, I look up at the wall but am tongue-tied when I see that the guards that are usually present are not there. As the rainfall intensifies and it becomes harder and harder to see what is in front of us, we hear the sound of gunfire nearby.

I hear a continuous turn-turn-turn and the sound of a hunting rifle.

“Looks like they’re in pretty bad shape.”

The use of a hunting rifle means they’re in danger if they don’t use their trump card. The door is closed, and there is no one to open it. But there is no problem. Instantly, I switched places with Shizuku, and with a thump and a light kick, she kicks a hollow in the bumpy barracks wall, climbs up the wall, and passes through. Softly, she lands on the ground like a cat and returns to the old man.

The inside of the community is deserted due to the heavy rain. I must understand the current situation. I see people working hard to carry chairs and chests of drawers as barricades inside the buildings that stand in a row.

“It would be a futile action if the walls here get breached. There you are.”

I would all stand together to confront them, and if I were the hero of an anime or something, I would blurt out a speech, and people would say, “We’re going to fight!”. And would join in with their weapons. But what about reality? They would join the fight, but the fear of death would slow them down. A coward gets hit by a stray bullet, and an unresolved soldier is held back by the help of a determined soldier. Those who have no combat training and aren’t prepared to fight should build a barricade. That’s one choice. Sakimori knows that not all humans are strong.

Therefore, I don’t despise them. As I ran toward the barricade, I saw the barricade on the other side. About 30 people were standing on the barricade, drawing bows, discharging bow guns, and firing hunting rifles.

Three of them were carrying hunting rifles. They were shooting in the rain. I knew they had hidden guns. But there were fewer than expected. Only three guns?

When I looked around, we found more than 20 people lying in an abandoned building a short distance away, bandaged and receiving medical treatment. Some people were already injured. On the wall, they are receiving arrows from archers, and I see another one hit on the shoulder and fall.

Sakimori runs up the stairs leading to the barricade wall and instantly uses his magic.

[Shadow Wall]

I cover as much area as I can with shadows to ward off arrows. The men, who were under attack from arrows several times their size, are startled by the enemy arrows stopping in mid-air and look over to see what happened and notice me.

“Yo, Sakimori. I didn’t expect you to come.”

I saw an old man in a warrior’s outfit notices me and grins.

“Yeah, my company’s in danger if they get past here.”

“I see. I heard you set up your own company. Then, is it okay if I don’t pay you anything?”

“No.”

We exchange a few snide remarks and a laugh with Shingen, who turns his head to the outside and frowns. Behind the barricade, there were so many goblins and giant rats that they filled the road. They were pounding on the wall with guns, trying to break the barricade, and the giant rats were gnawing and trying to make holes in it. At a glance, there were 1,500 goblins and many giant rats. I lost count.

“Half the F-rank core. How about everything above that is mine?”

“Heh. That’s too much for you, isn’t it?”

“Of course, since I’m the one who takes down E-rank and above. I’m going to take down more than E rank. I want at least 50 bullets.”

Shingen laughs and grins as I negotiate a reward after seeing how the enemy is doing.

“It’s frightening that you think you’re going to win. All right, Katsuyori! Give the guest general a hunting rifle. And as many bullets as you can find!”

“All right, oyaji-dono.”

He yells at a man in his twenties who is drawing an archery bow next to him, who, without question, takes it from a man shooting a hunting rifle nearby and hands it to him, along with a box of bullets.

“What, Shingen had a son?”

“Yeah, though he got into the battle of Tennozan before I died. Have a little interest in your neighbor!”

I looked at Katsuyori, and I had no idea. I didn’t know, or rather, I had no intention of knowing. I was too lazy to remember every name in an abandoned town where I might die tomorrow.

I slung the hunting rifle I had received over my shoulder and picked up the box of bullets.

“Are you sure?”

“…… Oh, yes. I know what you can do. I’m sure you use it better than we can.”

The quiet-looking man loosens his strong face to answer, so I shrug in return.

“I’ll have to live up to your expectations. [Shadow Master].”

When I roll in the bullets and use the Shadow Master again, the bullets all fit into the bullet belt made of shadows. Just sling it over my shoulder, and I’m ready to go.

“You’re very dexterous. So, what am I supposed to do? I’m sorry, but my [Cavalry] skill is already used up. I don’t have any mana.”

Shingen says bitterly, perspiring. Shingen has the skill level 1 [Cavalry]. It can create war horses. Unfortunately, created horses can only exist for one day, but he has been able to create 5 horses, and Shingen is making great use of his cost-free skill.

“You let them charge in vain, didn’t you?”

“Because cavalry is useless in a siege. I didn’t expect you to come.”

Shingen answers awkwardly, and I look down at the enemy, it can’t be helped. If we don’t hurry, the monsters will breach the barricade.

Fireballs also flew mixed in among arrows. While my allies get down in a panic, I calmly point my index finger and release magic.

[Water Arrow]

The fireball gets intercepted by the water arrow fired by Sakimori and drowned out as a spark of fire. Seeing this, the people around them begin to fight again, relieved.

“Are there goblin shamans there too?”

“Yes, I’m shooting them as soon as I find them, but it’s using the goblins as shields, and it doesn’t get into the line of fire very well.”

The goblin shaman who uses magic is a formidable foe. The goblin knight is behind him. And behind him is the big guy who seems to be leading the goblins.

[I’m so glad I had my gun, ……. Otherwise, we would have run away. The enemy has more than one division, right?]

[Yes, they are. But we can do it.]

Shizuku is glowing with a ferocious light in her eyes. There isn’t a shred of her usual stupidity in her appearance.

Quickly exchanging thoughts at high speed, we decide on a plan together and grin.

“Shingen. You guys sweep up the remaining enemies.”

Shingen looks puzzled as if he had misheard my words, so I tell him again.

“Shingen. You and your men will sweep up the remaining enemies.”

“Huh? Remaining enemies? We’re still in the middle of a battle, remember? We don’t even know if we’ll win, do we?”

I tell Shingen, who exclaims in confusion and surprise, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“It’s a good thing it’s raining.”

“Good thing it’s raining?”

The rain’s pace intensifies, everyone is soaking wet, and I can’t even see in front of me unless I wipe my face, but Sakimori flips his coat.

“Yes, it is. Yeah, the big rats are in the way, so burn some wooden sticks dipped in slime and throw them inside the building outside the barricade. Pick a bare concrete spot so it doesn’t catch fire. They’ll congregate there.”

“I understand that. But what about the goblins?”

“We’ll find out soon enough. Water magicians in the rain, you know.”

I concentrated my magical power with a twitch of his index finger, waving it like a tact.

“They’re very tricky, you know.”

Saying this, Sakimori turned a ferocious smile toward the goblin army.