That day, Nishino was at a karaoke bar with his usual group of friends, including Rikka, Shibata and Ono.
An acquaintance of his worked there part-time, so they could stay until midnight without getting into any trouble.
After booking a song, all three of them went to the bar to get drinks for everyone, and that’s when it happened.
“What is it?”
“Earthquake?”
Suddenly, there was a violent tremor.
The shaking was so strong that they couldn’t stand, so they crouched down on the floor and waited for it to stop.
“It shook so hard. The lights are off.”
“It was quite a tremor. The breaker must have tripped.”
They didn’t think much about it at the time, but when they looked outside, they were astonished.
Orcs and goblins had appeared in the parking lot just outside the store and were running rampant.
They could not believe their own eyes at the sight.
“What is that…… Cosplay?”
“No, isn’t that too realistic for a cosplay…..?”
Nishino felt a chill running through him.
His instincts were warning him that something terrible was going on.
And he was right.
One of the goblins in the parking lot had attacked a passerby.
The sight of one of the goblins on a horse, stabbing a passerby with a blade in its hand, did not seem real.
“Huh, wait, right now, did someone just get stabbed……? You’re kidding……”
“……! Rikka, let’s go!”
Nishino took Rikka’s hand and quickly returned to the room.
“Ah, Nishino. The tremor earlier was terrible. The power went out. Should I call a waiter?”
“That’s not the point! Let’s get out of here right now!”
“Huh…..?”
Nishino recounted the scene they had just witnessed.
At first Shibata and the others were skeptical, but after seeing Nishino’s grim look and the goblins and orcs that were actually near the entrance, they finally understood that what he was saying was no joke.
They walked out the back door with the friend who was working there part-time.
They could hear the cries of monsters and screams of people everywhere.
“Wh, what the hell is this….?”
“What’s going on…..?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, but we’re going to have to evacuate to some other place.”
But where should we go?
As Nishino was thinking about it, he felt a chill behind him.
“Gyaaaaah!”
“…!”
A nearby goblin attacked him.
The shout and the power of the attack made Nishino stiffen involuntarily.
“…! Don’t touch Nishino you monsterrrrrrr!”
It was Shibata who moved instead.
He swung the handbag he was carrying at the goblin.
“Gigiya?!”
The goblin could not withstand the impact and was swept away, crashing into a telephone pole and became motionless.
“Hah …… hah …… did it work?”
“Shibata, sorry. You saved me……”
“It wasn’t much. Don’t mind. Anyway, are you hurt?”
“……? What’s wrong, Shibata?”
“No, I just heard a strange voice ……. Something like “your level has increased” and “your experience has increased”…….”
“What are you talking about, Shibatachi?
“No, I don’t know either, but ……”
At first, everyone thought it was Shibata’s imagination.
But then Rikka, then Ono, and finally Nishino killed a monster and heard the announcement, which made them understand that it was neither an auditory hallucination nor an echo.
The existence of statuses, professions, and skills confused them even more.
“Hey, does this mean the world is like a game now? Are you kidding me?”
“Is it like transmigrating to another world? It’s like a novel.”
“No, it can’t be. This……”
“But the professions, the effects of the skills, and the monsters are real. At least it’s not like we’re all under some kind of mass hypnosis.”
They couldn’t believe it, but they understood that this is what the world has become.
Then, their group headed to a nearby home center with the thought that they could find some weapons and supplies that could be used in the battle against the monsters.
Whether they had already escaped or had been attacked by Treant’s, it was not clear, but the home center was completely in ruins.
Taking advantage of this, they hid themselves inside the store.
That was the end of the first day.
The night dawned, and on the second day, the incident occurred.
“– then, let’s split up and check the area.”
“Yus.”
As a new dawn broke, Nishino and his group decided to check the situation around the home center.
Nishino and Rikka, Ono and Shibata, the rest of the group split up and moved.
“It wasn’t a dream, was it ……?”
“Ah, I wish it was.”
The situation did not change after a night of sleep.
Monsters were spreading around, attacking people, destroying everything in their path, and setting fires.
It looked like a scene straight out of hell.
“I wonder if everyone else…… is okay.”
“We just have to believe that they’re okay.”
“Yeah.”
The search went smoothly.
Thanks to the skills they had acquired, they were able to defeat the monsters without much difficulty.
“Hey, someone! Please help!”
“No! Stop it!”
They heard a scream.
When they followed the sound, they found two men and a woman being attacked by goblins.
“Nisshi, look! People are being attacked by monsters!”
“Two goblins, Rikka?”
“Yeah.”
The two of them immediately went to help them.
They defeated the goblins without difficulty and approached the people who had been attacked.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, ahh, thank you…… ugh.”
“You look injured. We should quickly treat you.”
“Th, thank you.”
Nishino took out bandages and antiseptic solution from his bag.
Nishino had picked one from the home center. Well, it was technically stealing but he was glad he had brought it with him.
Shibata had taught him how to apply first aid, so he was able to manage it somehow.
“Fuuh. First let us —?!”
All of a sudden, Nishino felt the familiar chill wash over him.
This was the effect of the “Crisis Detection” skill.
“Gishiiiiiaaaaaa!”
In the next moment, the goblins he had been hiding from attacked him from behind.
“!”
“Nisshi!”
Rikka and the other woman were standing a few feet away.
Rikka ran desperately, but she was still a second too late.
(It’s okay, calm down! I can still avoid it at the last minute.)
Nishino calmly assessed the situation.
He could still dodge the goblin’s attack while protecting the man.
Just as he thought this, he suddenly lost his balance.
“Huh……?”
For a moment, he didn’t know what had happened.
It was as if someone had suddenly pushed him away…
“Ah, hik! ……fo, forgive me…….”
“Ah……”
The man staggered away while covering his wounds.
Seeing this, Nishino understood.
The man had pushed him forward.
He was terrified of the monster approaching them, and he quickly used Nishino as bait in order to escape.
“Nisshi! Wait a minute, old man, just what in the hell– kyaaa?!”
Rikka yelled at the man but the next moment, she was also pushed forward by the woman who she had saved, and lost her balance.
“……Do, don’t blame me…… Y, you! Hurry! Over here!”
“Ah, ahh!”
Rikka looked at them with an indescribable expression on her face as they struggled to escape.
“Hey! We were trying to save you–!”
“Gishaaaaaaaa!”
“Giiiiiiiiiiii!”
“Geeeeeeeeeee!”
She did not have a chance to finish her sentence.
There were more goblins who were emerging from their hiding spot.
If they had any skills related to “spotting the enemy”, they would have easily found out.
But, neither Nishino nor Rikka had that kind of skill.
They had no idea that such a skill existed, or that monsters had the intelligence to hide and trick them.
“Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
“Guh, youuuuuuuuuuuu!”
Rikka desperately swung her machete at the attacking goblins.
“Nisshi!”
“It’s, it’s okay!”
Nishino took a deep breath and activated his skill.
“– ‘Don’t move’!”
[T/N: is Nishino related to the Inumaki clan??? OwO]
“Gii…..?”
“Giggi……?”
In that instant, the goblins stiffened in response to Nishino’s ‘order’.
“Alright, Rikka! It’s now or never!”
“Yes!”
Rikka took advantage of the gap and killed the goblins one by one.
“U, uwaaaaa?!”
“Wh, why…..? Why isn’t my body moving?”
“Huh…..?”
But, what Nishino didn’t expect was that those who had abandoned them and tried to flee were also in the area of effect of the order.
“Wh…… why ……?”
At that time, Nishino still did not know.
He simply shouted, “Don’t move.”
He did not know that if he gave an order without focusing on a target, the effect would be passed on to all those who heard his voice.
The fact that Rikka could move was also the reason why he didn’t realize this.
Rikka had the “Combat Continuation” skill.
If it was a vague “order” that did not narrow down the range of its effect, it would not have interfered with her movements at all.
But for an ordinary person with no skills, Nishino’s “order” was more than enough to affect them.
“Kishaaaaaaa!”
“Heeeeaaahhhh! It hurts, it hurts!”
“No, you, noooo!”
Monsters and ordinary people with no skills.
It was obvious which of the two would recover faster from the effects of Nishino’s order.
The first thing the goblins did when they broke free was to attack the wounded man, whose movements had slowed down.
The man could not resist and was killed by the goblins.
≪You have gained experience.≫
≪Certain conditions have been met.≫
≪You have acquired the skill “Kin Slayer”≫.
(What…? Why is there an announcement now?)
The experience value is divided equally among those who participated in the battle on the spot.
The system analyzed the sequence of events and determined that Nishino had interfered with their movements with an “order” and that the goblins had killed the man in the gap.
As a result, the experience value generated from the death of the man was distributed to Nishino.
“No way, because of my …… my skills?”
Because of his quick thinking, he was able to immediately figure out the reason. No, it was done.
How much happier would he have been if he hadn’t noticed?
“……uwaaaaaaaaahhh!”
The goblins that had been hiding were wiped out by Rikka’s efforts.
Naturally, the surviving woman pestered the two of them.
“Hey, just now, when my body stopped moving for a second, could it have been your work ……? You told me ‘don’t move’, didn’t you?”
“……”
“Hey, why don’t you answer me? You’re the one who …… caused him to…….”
The woman tried to corner the stunned Nishino.
But Rikka blocked her.
“……What are you talking about auntie? You’re the one who abandoned us in the first place and ran away.”
“Shut up! I didn’t ask you to do that! If you’re going to help us, help us faster, you useless bastard! That’s right, it’s your fault! My husband is dead because of you! F*ck you!”
“……!”
Even Rikka couldn’t hide her annoyance at the selfishness of the statement.
“What’s with this……? You can’t say that after we helped you!”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You murderer! Give him back to me! Give me my husband! I want my husband back!”
“Hey, that hurts ……Get –get off me!”
Rikka subconsciously pushed away the woman who grabbed her by the collar and cursed at her.
The battle had just ended, and… she had not yet released her “Madness”.
“Give–“
Because of ‘Madness’, Rikka’s status had increased.
There is an overwhelming difference in power that an ordinary person without any skills can not resist.
Because of this, even a light shove for Rikka was as much of a shock as being hit by a car for the woman.
The woman who was pushed with such tremendous force hit her head on the wall and stopped moving.
“….huh? He… hey…?”
Rikka panicked and ran over to her, but the woman did not move.
When she touched the back of her head, a sticky red liquid stuck to her hand.
“Hic …….”
A cruel announcement rang in Rikka’s increasingly agitated head.
≪You have gained experience.≫
≪Certain conditions have been met.≫
≪You have acquired the skill ‘Kin Slayer.’≫
“What is that voice ……?”
Rikka kept on thinking about the “meaning” of the voice that echoed in her head.
Experience, killing your own kind — that means…….
“Ah…….”
Rikka clutched her head and began to tremble at what she had done.
” No, no, no, I didn’t mean to…… no…….”
“Rikka!”
This is not good, Nishino could instinctively feel it.
He was already walking a tightrope in this strange situation.
If he was not careful, Rikka’s spirit might be broken.
Feeling this way, he immediately yelled, “Rikka!”
“Rikka! It’s not your fault! You …… were ‘ordered’ by me! That’s right. You were ‘ordered’ by me. Do you get it?”
“……Huh?”
“This is what I ‘ordered’ you to do. You can’t go against my skills, so I forced you to do it. Think like that! Think!”
“What ……? Ah……, yes, that’s right, …….”
Nishino immediately gave her an “order”.
Normally, an ‘order’ has little effect if the target does not agree with it.
But if the target accepts the order, the effect is amplified.
For Rikka, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown and needed a reason to escape, Nishino’s “order” had a much stronger effect than normal.
Her mind went blank, to the point where she didn’t care about anyone but Nishino, Shibata, and her friends.
“You can’t just kill people and get experience. …… You can’t let anyone know that you did this.”
“…… Yes, that’s right.”
Nishino and Rikka quickly left the place.
You can get experience by killing people.
And then you will gain the skill ‘Kin Slayer’.
This is how they learned the information they did not want to know.
“–that’s how it happened.”
“……”
When Nishino finished speaking, he released a deep breath.
“…… Sorry. I should have honestly told you this earlier, but ……”
“No, such a thing…… But why did you tell me something so important?”
It was certainly a shocking story, but I have no idea why he is telling this to me.
Nishino looked down, staring into his coffee cup.
“……. I don’t know. But I guess I always wanted someone to know. Rikka has also been suffering for a long time……”
“Did you tell Aisaka-san about this? That you will tell me about this?”
“…… Yes. I believe she’s telling Ichinose the same story right now.”
“To Ichinose?”
“She’s the one who suggested it. She said, “Let’s talk about it tonight……””
Is that so…
“The next battle might be my last. That’s why I wanted you to know. Our sins……”
“Last……. Please don’t say something so unlucky.”
That line is a complete death flag. Please stop.
“And although you call it a sin, it’s almost like an accident, isn’t it? To be honest, I don’t think it’s Nishino or Aisaka’s fault.”
“But it doesn’t change the fact that …… Rikka and I killed someone. In the beginning, I was desperately trying to live another day so I didn’t have time to think about it. But when I came to live here, I gradually began to feel more relaxed, and I couldn’t help thinking about it. How can I atone for my sins?”
“Nishino……”
“I was out of my mind even after that. Even though I was trying to help my friends, I was also thinking of a strategy that would discard others without any hesitation. …… Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was thinking…. Even if we help them, they will betray us in the end….. It’s best to think of them as pawns for your own use. That’s what I kept on thinking……”
I think he’s referring to what happened at the home center.
He said he was attacked by high orcs and barely managed to escape in one piece.
He probably used the refugees as bait that time.
“…… Nishino.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
“……what?”
Now is the time.
If Nishino has told me about himself, I’ll tell him about myself.
“There is a limit to what a person can do. Everyone has their own priorities and goals. Everyone’s most important person is themselves, and if I had to help someone I didn’t know well or a close friend, I would choose the latter without hesitation.”
“B, But…”
“Nishino, we are not heroes who can save everything, much less gods. With our limited power, we can only do the best we can. Nishino has done just that. I think that’s admirable enough, don’t you?”
“……”
“I’m the worst when it comes to that, you know? I’m the worst. I’m a thief, and I don’t care what happens to others. As long as I can protect myself, Momo, Ichinose, and the people I care about, I don’t care what happens to the rest. I still think that way.”
“Kudou is such a–“
“That’s the kind of person I am. That’s the kind of small human I am.”
I think you’re overestimating me, Nishino.
But I’m not someone to be respected like that, and I’m not a hero.
I’m just a small, ordinary person.
“‘I was just desperate, that’s all. I desperately tried to do something about the situation in front of me, and I struggled and worked hard, and with everyone’s help, I managed to get through it. That’s all. …… It’s the same for you, isn’t it, Nishino?”
“……”
“So I don’t blame you, nor do I judge you. I think this is just a matter of listening to your problems and complaints.”
“…… You really are an unusual person, aren’t you, Kudo? No normal person would say something like that.”
“I was shocked when she called me a murderer, but I knew there was definitely a reason for it.”
“……”
“No matter what they say now, Nishino is one of us. That will never change.”
“Kudou……”
“Thank you for telling me this. And I will be counting on you in the future as well.”
“Me too. Thank you….. Kudou.”
No matter what happened to Nishino and Rikka-chan in the past, I will not change my mind.
I’m sure Ichinose feels the same.
“Do you feel better now that you’ve told me everything?”
“Yes, I do….”
“Then, that’s fine. If you feel refreshed after complaining, venting, and spitting everything out, you can do it again tomorrow.”
“See you…. tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Tomorrow we will be busy looking for that intelligent zombie and the Wolf King. So let’s do our best, so that we can definitely win and face tomorrow together again.”
“…… Yes, that’s right. Yeah, absolutely.”
Nishino firmly grasped the hand I held out to him and squeezed it.
The expression on his face was clear, without a hint of hesitation.
“I think now I am okay.”
Is what he must be thinking.
It was then.
“I’m surprised. Do you really think that tomorrow will come?”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, I heard a man’s voice.
It was a familiar voice, one that I would never forget.
I turned my head in the direction of the voice and saw the intelligent zombie outside the window.
“Why……?”
Why are you here?
We’re in the “Safe Zone”.
So why are you–?
“You’re pretty slow.”
Immediately afterwards, a boom! And darkness erupted around the intelligent zombie.
In an instant, the room was blown apart and debris flew up like a storm.
“……!”
I barely managed to avoid it.
I managed to sink Nishino-kun, Ichinose-san and Rikka-chan who were on the first floor into the shadows.
I managed to protect them in the shadows, but …… this attack is–.
“Yes, this accuracy is quite good. I knew she had talent. It’s a wonderful talent that will only flourish in this world.”
“……What are you saying?”
“Huh? What are you–“
The intelligent zombie chuckled.
“I’m claiming my victory.”
In the next moment, the entire landscape was tinged with darkness.
This is….. No way… Dark Wolf’s ……?
“Let’s end this, owner of Precocious. I’ll kill you this time.”
“…As if I will let you!”
Roar! With that, my ninjutsu and the darkness collided with each other.
The intelligent zombie and the Wolf King.
At the worst possible time, a battle against the most formidable enemies was about to begin.
*****