**Day 7: The Cave**
My cave's soundproofing was perfect. Because it was a cave.
Still, for safety's sake, I kept Presence Detection and Enemy Search active while I slept. You know, just in case.
But those skills had been picking up noisy presences in the forest for a while now, and it was too annoying to sleep through.
"Stay away," I grumbled as I stepped outside. It was still the middle of the night. Were these guys a biker gang or something? Running around the forest going "pee hyarara"?
I used Clairvoyance to spot the culprits disturbing my sleep. It was the otaku guys and some goblins. I recognized both species.
Ugh, so the noisy ones at midnight were the otaku crew. What's with today's high schoolers throwing a wild party with goblins in the middle of the night? Time for a lecture.
"Back off!"
"I'll hold them!"
"MP still not enough?"
"You too?"
"Waaah waaah waaah!"
"Guooo!"
"Gugya!"
"Gau!"
Man, these guys were loud.
The four otaku were classmates. They weren't bad people. In fact, they were the ones who usually got bullied. I could have yelled at them for being noisy, but the fact that they were here meant they'd gotten skills too. And unlike mine, theirs were probably cheats. After all, they were professionals at this stuff.
There were light novels about bullied kids getting cheat skills in another world and going on revenge sprees. Not that I ever bullied them. Come to think of it, they were the ones who kept shoving those books at me and preaching about them. Yeah… they were pretty entertaining, so maybe I should help them out?
I activated Appraisal as I approached. There were five goblins left, levels 13 to 15. Huh? Did they even need help? The otaku were all level 16, with jobs like Guardian, Ninja, Saint, and Mage. So cool. Why was I the only one still unemployed?
I got the picture. The Guardian was using a big shield and spear to hold the goblins back, the Ninja was doing hit-and-run attacks, and the Mage and Saint were providing backup from behind. That was the plan, anyway. But there were too many goblins for the Guardian to handle alone, the Ninja's movements were sluggish (probably injured), and there was no magic support or healing from the rear. They must have run out of MP and switched to direct attacks with spears and hammers.
Even so, level 16 stats should have made this easy. I could fight these things at level 3. Were they just tired? One of them looked pretty overweight.
"Okay, I can only fire one shot!"
"Gather the goblins!"
"Roger!"
"Earth Lance!!"
Whoa, they finally took down three. Watching other people fight was actually more nerve-wracking.
"Alright, two left! Surround them!"
"Ooooh!"
What were they thinking? Was this really okay? I thought they'd be fine, but it looked bad. For real? They were out of MP again, the Guardian was beat up, and two more goblins were coming from behind.
They hadn't noticed. The two goblins were about to launch a full surprise attack from the rear.
Total panic. They seemed even more frantic than usual. Same pay for the whole party, though.
Seriously, four level 16s? A Mage, a Saint, a Guardian, and a Ninja? Why did a level 3 unemployed guy have to bail them out? Shouldn't anyone over level 10 be able to solo a goblin pack?
Tch. Couldn't be helped.
"Wooden Stick Attaaack!! Stick together, you idiots!"
I charged out with the momentum I'd built while running. Ja-ja-ja-jaaan. I smashed the two rear goblins anyway.
""""What!? Wait, ehhh!? Why? Huh, Haruka-kun?""""
"…Uhh, petta petta?"
Everyone except one was still panicking. That one guy seemed oddly calm, though his response came out as a question.
Well, I couldn't just ignore them. We weren't exactly strangers. It would leave a bad taste if they died or got badly hurt right in front of me.
Not that we were close. In class, they'd just suddenly shove recommended light novels at me and launch into preaching sessions. That was about it.
There was still some otaku-style commotion behind me, but I finished off the two goblins with repeated Wooden Stick Attacks. Also known as "full-power swings aimed at the back of the head from behind for total obliteration." Two more to go.
"Guoooooh!" The goblins turned toward me, shouting something. I had no idea what.
Whatever they were saying with that "Guoooooh," it definitely wasn't a morning greeting. Goblin language was way too advanced for me.
I wasn't counting on the otaku for backup, and I didn't want to show too many of my cards.
While I was still thinking about what to do, the goblins raised their clubs and charged.
Seriously, goblins? Same pattern again? I casually took them down with my usual Wooden Stick Slash. Also known as "smashing the goblin's skull along with its downward-swinging club in one horizontal strike." That one's a secret for good kids only.
"Hey, otaku squad! You guys still alive over there?"
I called out, but…
"""......"""
"…Uhh, pichi pichi?"
Hmm. Everyone except one still hadn't rebooted. But that one guy was impressive. How did he even catch that? Wait, was it some otherworld skill?
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"Ah… there's a lot I want to ask, but anyway, thanks for saving us. We really appreciate it."
"""Thanks a ton!"""
They finally seemed to have rebooted. It felt like it had been forever since I last talked to another person, but that was probably just my imagination. Back in the old world, I often went whole days without speaking… yeah.
Now what? I'd saved them, but what was I supposed to do? Just drop them back where I found them?
"Uh, are you on guard or something?"
"Guard?"
"What? Monsters?"
"…Uhh, death game?"
Wow, that one guy was sharp. Well, he was the one who lent me that book.
"Sorry. It's another world, you know."
I might have hurt their feelings, but I couldn't afford to be all sunshine and flowers. Skills were dangerous as hell. It was actually weirder that harmless ones like Health and Walking even existed. I'd been stuck with the harmful stuff, though.
Among the grayed-out skills that had already been taken, there was one called "Puppet." Definitely bad news. Couldn't I trade my Useless Blockhead for that instead?
The otaku guys looked at each other, then started setting down their swords, katanas, shields, and bags. Oh, disarming? Nice. I only had a wooden stick… wait, no.
"You don't have to go that far. It's too careless to drop your weapons in the middle of the forest."
I made them pick everything back up.
"…Is this okay?"
"…Seems okay?"
"…Is it really?"
"Handle it as you see fit?"
Hey, now there was a "lord" mixed in. What kind of job was "Lord"? A rowdy one? Samba? I asked a few questions while they got their gear back in order.
"What happened to the others? You guys exploring alone in the middle of the night?"
The four of them frowned and answered.
"They left us… or rather, we split up… more like we broke off… we ran away. We're fugitives."
Huh? They were bullied back at school, but even in another world it was still going on?
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I brought the battered, panicking quartet back to my cave. They were in such bad shape that I dumped a makeshift potion made from boiled mushrooms and medicinal herbs on them. Clinical trial. It smelled like mushrooms.
"Whoa, what is this stylish cave!?"
"You did this alone?"
"We've been in a tent for a whole week."
"Country living?"
Shut it. "Alone" is a forbidden word for loners. And it's not country living; it's remote wilderness or unexplored territory. I'm settled in a cave.
The cave actually looked pretty nice now. It used to be bumpy, so I wrapped the floor and walls with Packing magic, reshaping them. That's when I got Earth Magic Lv1, and I got carried away remodeling everything. It was about thirty tatami mats now. I thought Earth Magic would hit Lv2, but instead Hikikomori and Loner went to Lv2… seriously.
"Modern warehouse?" "Living alone with this much space?" "Four guys in a cramped tent…" "SoHo? Loft…" "Not fair."
They were noisy, so I served them juice from my secret stash of suspiciously colored forest berries to shut them up.
""""Delicious!!""""
"There were sweet berries like this~"
They were ridiculously happy. What the heck had they been doing in the forest for a whole week?
I asked.
Whoa… heavy. What's the word? Stupid? That's what the story boiled down to. Not them—the rest of the group.
It was a long tale, and half of it was made of resentment and bitterness. There didn't seem to be any kindness mixed in.
Everyone except me had been transported into the forest at almost the same time. There were even kids from other classes who'd been in the room, so apparently forty-two people in total. That's a lot. I couldn't even remember all my own classmates' names.
They'd all gotten an explanation from the god, but it was total chaos. Yeah, that made sense.
Especially the wannabe delinquent bullies and the selfish gyaru bitches—they'd been making the biggest racket.
The fake delinquents were swinging swords around and firing attack magic everywhere. When someone tried to stop them, they turned violent.
The selfish bitches kept screaming that they didn't know anything and weren't doing anything. "You guys figure it out!" they'd yell.
The normal girls were all crying and wailing.
The sports club guys gathered by themselves and ignored everyone else.
The average guys were just background noise.
Only our class's conscience—the class rep—tried to get everyone organized, but it was pandemonium in the middle of the forest.
By the way, while everyone else ignored the otaku, they'd been quietly sharing status information, checking their skills, equipment, and magic. Bold move.
And when that many people made that much noise in the forest, of course monsters came running.
Goblins started charging in from all directions.
The class rep froze. She'd been trying her best, but it was too much.
The girls screamed even louder. Hey, monsters are coming—quiet down.
The bitches kept shrieking, "You're guys, right? You handle it!"
The fake delinquents had been swinging swords and magic around earlier, but the moment real monsters showed up, they suddenly went quiet. Too stupid to understand.
The average guys stayed background noise.
What? The class rep was getting nice treatment in the story? Of course. She was kind enough to talk to someone like me, and she was a beautiful girl. The rest didn't matter.
In the middle of all that chaos, for some reason the otaku—who had adapted perfectly to the otherworld and were already ready for combat—started quietly repelling the goblins. Eventually the sports club guys joined in and they somehow won.
Even so, the class rep, who had managed to calm the noisy mob, half-threatened them with "It's dangerous here!" and moved everyone to a nice open riverside spot.
Meanwhile, the otaku independently gathered food and firewood and started setting up camp.
More than half the group was doing nothing but getting in the way, yet somehow everyone survived.
Until evening, everyone was either exhausted or had learned their lesson about making noise, so they split into their own little groups and just lazed around.
The otaku lit campfires everywhere, pitched the tents they had in their equipment, and prepared dinner for everyone using the gathered food and preserved rations.
Apparently these guys had been doing survival training in preparation for an isekai summoning. Idiots? Or geniuses?
While all that was happening, the class rep worked hard to coordinate things. The normal students started learning from the otaku how to pitch tents and finally began helping.
After that, the otaku naturally kept doing their own thing. They hadn't been ostracized for nothing. They didn't read the room.
The Mage used Earth Magic and survival techniques to build fences, ditches, and pitfalls.
The Ninja scouted, set up alarm traps, and assassinated any goblins he found.
The Saint healed the injured and sick with recovery magic, and built a water station and simple toilets.
The Guardian patrolled the perimeter, kept the fires going, and silently wiped out any goblins that approached.
What even were otaku?
Fortunately, the nearby goblins were only levels 1 to 5—small fry—so everyone finally calmed down and they started holding proper discussions.
They divided up jobs, set up night watch rotations, talked about the future, food problems… The class rep offered ideas, asked the otaku for input and advice, and gently coaxed the hesitant ones along as they made decisions one by one. If I ever meet her again, I'm calling her Class Rep-sama.
But of course, problems arose.
Naturally, the cause was the fake delinquents and the bitches.
First the bitches started complaining that they should have their own tents pitched for them.
The class rep stepped in and offered to help them do it together, but they wouldn't listen. "That's guys' work." "We never asked to come here." "The food sucks—make it again!" "Just do something about it!" and so on.
Naturally, the fake delinquents then refused to do anything either. They yelled that the otaku should handle everything. No matter what the class rep said, they responded with threats, intimidation, and loud voices to pressure everyone around them.
The worst atmosphere imaginable finally caused everything to collapse.
Sudden isekai summoning—an abnormal situation.
Monsters they'd never seen before appearing.
And nearly getting killed.
Then having to kill.
Seeing death for the first time.
No teachers around. Just a bunch of loud second-year idiots.
The girl who had always been the class rep, desperately trying to hold the class together, the one everyone relied on.
There was no way she could handle it. She probably knew it was impossible.
She was just a sixteen-year-old girl. Being called class rep didn't magically make her capable of fixing everything.
The group known as "the class" had already fallen apart.
"…That's enough."
With those words, the class rep looked down and fell silent. The discussion collapsed.
Nothing had been decided.
No one understood anything.
No one knew what they should do.
No one knew what they shouldn't do.
They had no means of survival, no methods, no shared knowledge—nothing.
Even the students who had been starting to come together began thinking, "Why should we work when those guys aren't?" and turned uncooperative.
There were no rules anymore. It wasn't even a group.
Forty-two people with cheat skills. With a class rep who could unite them and otaku who had knowledge of the otherworld and skills, they could have fought and survived in this monster-filled world. They could have become a real force.
Instead, they became a noisy mob that didn't understand their own power, didn't know how to fight, didn't know about monsters or the world, and just blamed others while screaming.
The single most reliable and safest way to survive in this world—forming a united group—had completely broken down.
The moment the class rep gave up on trying to hold everyone together, it was over.
Of course, it wasn't her fault.
If the otaku had backed her up, things might have been different. But that was impossible.
These guys had zero communication skills. They were otaku.
Even so, they had silently protected everyone, fought, and shared what they had. It meant nothing to the idiots, though.
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"Your story is way too heavy! And too long. So that's why you ran away?"
I cut off the otaku's endless heavy tale full of complaints, grumbling, insults, and dissatisfaction.
At the same time, I served them my signature dish: "Otherworld Mushroom Platter with Mystery Plants."
"What I told you so far was what happened on the first day. We ran away because of what came after…"
"The real nightmare starts after that. It's seriously the worst."
"No, we didn't run away right away. By the way, you guys keep calling us otaku— you know our names, right? We're classmates!"
"Mushrooms are delicious!!"
Ugh, the heavy story was still continuing. There was no way it was going to turn fun from here.
"Your names are otaku, right? Otaku A, B, C, D. Even the goblins were Goblin A and B."
What were they even saying?
"No, those aren't names. What? Are they race names?"
"Stop it! What if our status really shows Otaku A?"
"That would be treating us like monsters!?"
"Wait, you guys weren't Otaku A, B, C!?"
"""You too!?"""
Otaku D's unexpected betrayal. Yeah, there definitely wasn't a happy ending coming.
"Jokes aside, Haruka-kun, you were over here?"
It wasn't a joke, but I'd let it slide.
"We were all summoned together, but it took me a while to get here. When I arrived, no one was around."
Thanks to that, I got the Loner title.
"I thought you were the only one who managed to escape. You ran out at insane speed."
"""That was amazing."""
Ehhh? You saw that?
"You guys… the classroom suddenly went pitch black, a magic circle appeared on the floor and started glowing brighter and brighter until it was a total whiteout, and then suddenly I was alone in a white room!! In that situation, how were you calm enough to watch me?"
I was genuinely shocked.
"Well, I was thinking 'Oh, this is an isekai summoning~' when suddenly someone kicked the back door open from the middle of the classroom, threw a chair at the window, jumped over the lockers, and disappeared into the ceiling space. Of course we were surprised."
Whoa, they really saw everything.
"You should have been surprised by the isekai summoning like normal people."
It had serious THE・Isekai Summoning vibes. I put effort into it. At least appreciate the show. Not that I saw it myself.
"No, no. I've seen tons of isekai summoning stories in manga and anime, but that was the first time I saw someone escape through the ceiling."
"Yeah, I never thought of that method…"
"Normally you'd just give up at the door and window."
"You looked like a ninja."
Hey, you're the ninja, occupationally speaking.
While chatting like that, I let them take turns using the bath and then rest.
The rest of the story, information, and future plans would come after.
The continuation was seriously the worst.
Apparently the otaku had been the only ones gathering food, maintaining the base, and fighting monsters.
The class rep and a few others helped, but they couldn't keep up with these four's pace, and the idiots just complained without lifting a finger.
In the end, they kept demanding more food, saying the tents were cramped, that they were bored. If you're bored, then work. I was working this hard and still a NEET.
The otaku had been actively raising their levels, partly for combat, but mostly because they were wary of the skills "Puppet" and "Charm" they'd seen in the white room. They were sure someone had them.
The countermeasure was to raise levels for resistance, acquire resistance skills, and find the holders to seal them.
Higher-tier skills apparently required skill points to manifest. Mine hadn't needed any, so they weren't high-tier. I already knew that.
They'd raised their Appraisal levels while searching for the "Puppet" and "Charm" holders. Using 30 out of only 50 points on that meant they were dead serious.
It seemed skills that hadn't manifested yet couldn't be seen with Appraisal, or maybe their Appraisal level wasn't high enough. None of the statuses showed them. There was a chance they were hidden, but with a level difference they should have been visible.
"I was definitely the last one, but there weren't any impressive skills left. Just lame ones and penalty-game stuff."
And then all the penalty games were forcibly attached to me.
"We asked to see skills right away too, but they had already been taken."
""Those penalty games were insane! One of them is instant game over.""
Yeah, sounds like them. They definitely skipped the god's explanation to check skills first.
That meant the culprit had gone to the white room and immediately demanded "Puppet" or "Charm"
They were definitely aiming for it. Dominator route or forced harem—probably both.
Also, stop saying "game over"! Don't say one skill is instant game over! I have all of them! And I got another one after! I'm gonna cry!
"I'm done— What was that bath!? A clawfoot tub?"
"A bath without beautiful girl slaves is just a bath…"
"It's just a bath. Hurry up and get in. Or better yet, drown."
After that, the otaku took turns sleeping and waking up so I could hear the rest of the story. I was sleepy. The story was too long.