**Day 8: The Cave**
I ate breakfast while the heavy, drawn-out story continued. If they'd just cut out the complaints, insults, resentment, and hatred, the tale would move much faster, but apparently that part was the main event for the otaku.
Getting summoned to another world, fighting monsters, surviving in the wild… yet almost the entire week's story was just badmouthing their classmates. Couldn't we drop the otherworld setting at this point?
The badmouthing—no, the story—kept going even while we ate. And of course the meal was mushrooms. That went without saying.
"So when we told them that high-level skills need SP saved up and then activated…"
"Starting around the third day, those guys suddenly started leveling up like crazy."
"Yeah, only targeting the weak goblins nearby."
"Never leaving the base. Classic RPG safe-zone farming around the castle."
Ah… I already knew who the culprits were. No deduction required. Didn't even need to ask for the old man's name.
"So it was them, huh? They really never do anything decent."
The Ninja had apparently scouted them out, stalking while erasing his presence. He said stalking guys wasn't any fun.
Good thing. If it had been fun, things would have ended badly in all sorts of ways.
Those guys—the wannabe delinquents—had no idea they were being eavesdropped on. They spent all their time talking about how they'd divide up the brainwashed girls afterward and swapping dirty stories. Were they idiots? Or just villains from some period drama? Why would you say all that stuff out loud right next to someone listening?
So they were aiming for a forced harem. For guys who used to bully otaku, they sure knew a lot about it. Well, they were only wannabes.
Naturally, the otaku started taking countermeasures. They told the class rep about the effects and dangers of Puppet and Charm, plus what the idiots had been saying. When the skills finally manifested, they'd seal them. The class rep seemed to steel herself and began actively leveling up too. By the way, she was apparently a total cheat.
While doing all that, they made plans, prepared, raised their levels, and steadily built up their defenses.
Then, on the fifth day in this world, Puppet finally manifested. They'd been steadily grinding level 1 and 2 goblins all the way up to level 15, little by little. The Ninja who'd been watching the whole time must have felt something deeply moving. Or not.
Such steady effort and patience. Truly admirable wannabe delinquents.
They even let the Charm and Puppet holders deliver the finishing blows while they patiently chipped away. The watching Ninja must have been bored out of his mind. Or maybe it was "myuu" for him.
That day when we get back, I'm making my harem! Let's have an orgy party! They kept making a huge racket with stuff like that, yet they continued slaughtering level 1 goblins until the very end, and finally Charm manifested too.
How admirably diligent and hardworking these wannabe delinquents were. At this point they could just stay wannabes. They clearly weren't cut out to be real delinquents.
And then, purely by coincidence, the school's number-one beautiful class rep appeared alone in the forest with no one else around.
The smiles that bloomed on the wannabes' faces at that moment were apparently as unpleasant as giant rotting flowers in full bloom.
Grinning nastily at each other, they approached the class rep with hideous smiles, stared into her eyes, and then… all of them collapsed, convulsing, and stopped moving. Amen?
Wait, just who the heck was Class Rep-sama!? Huh? Privacy reasons so she couldn't say?
Hey, weren't you guys stalking dudes for days? Weren't you peeping into their privacy like crazy? Male privacy, at that.
While they were down, the two skill holders were sealed. Who did the sealing was kept secret even from the class rep.
If these guys found out, they'd definitely be targeted.
They tied up the motionless wannabes, dragged them back, and exposed their entire brainwashed-puppet-slave-harem completion plan to everyone at the base.
The female students flew into a rage when they heard. The wannabes, trembling, demanded that the otaku release the seals. Naturally, they were met with a massive chorus of condemnation in completely hostile territory.
The male students who had been told they'd be turned into slaves joined the huge wave of criticism too. In the middle of the murderous atmosphere, the wannabes were terrified.
After thoroughly cursing them out, everyone unanimously voted to banish the wannabes from the base. The otaku were apparently lucky enough to hear a real-life "Remember this!"
And with that, the problem was finally solved.
Or so they thought.
That same night, the four otaku were taking a break from guard duty and chatting inside a tent.
The Ninja noticed first. The tent was being surrounded from a distance by six people.
The Mage had a detection barrier up, so if they were monsters it would have reacted immediately. Since it didn't, they were human.
There was no way those guys could have gotten through the fences and traps without help. Had one of the guards let them through? Why?
"You damn otaku! Get out here! Don't pick up your weapons, hurry up!"
Shouts came from outside, and then the tent was set on fire.
The four burst outside. The Guardian raised a barrier. Magic attacks slammed in from all sides at once.
The Saint reinforced the barrier with light magic while they endured. In the meantime, the Ninja who had prepared earlier used a flash ninjutsu to blind the enemies, and the Mage rapid-fired air bullets to suppress them.
It was exactly the coordination they had discussed inside the tent.
Even so, they were at a disadvantage after being caught in a surprise encirclement.
What's more, the otaku were fighting back with low-damage spells like air bullets and water whips, while the other side was seriously hurling flame bullets and explosive magic. They clearly intended to kill.
This was bad.
The people watching from around them didn't lift a finger to help.
The barrier wouldn't last long. Did they really have to fight to the death? Against other humans? The otaku couldn't make the call.
That was when the class rep and the others, who had been out on patrol, finally returned. They started providing long-range magic support.
No one tried to stop the attackers as they fled.
"Next time we'll definitely kill you! We'll slaughter you!!"
They shouted that as they ran away.
By the time the class rep's group arrived, the base had been burned, many people were injured by stray shots and fire, and the food stockpiles had gone up in flames too.
The guys on guard duty had apparently been threatened with "We're just here to talk, don't get in the way" and let them through in silence.
Since they would clearly be targeted from now on, the otaku couldn't split up and act alone anymore.
Rebuilding the base, reinforcing defenses, restocking food, and protecting themselves. If they needed guards even to sleep, they'd be completely immobilized.
For now, they put out the surrounding fires while still injured, treated the wounded, and searched the wreckage for usable tents to pitch again.
All while being blamed by everyone.
"It's your fault."
"You got into a fight with those guys."
"Take responsibility."
Even when they healed injuries, they got kicked and told it was because of them.
While putting out fires, they had stones thrown at them with demands to fix everything.
While pitching new tents, they were punched and told it was because they'd gotten cocky.
When standing guard, they were cursed at from behind and spat on.
They had no allies.
At this point, the otaku had only two choices left: run or kill.
Protecting themselves twenty-four hours a day with just four people was difficult. Simply repelling attacks wouldn't work forever; eventually they'd be killed.
If they kept dividing up jobs like before, they'd be targeted when alone.
If they stayed, they'd just be picked off one by one.
Kill those guys or escape from here.
The class rep and the others had desperately tried to persuade the rest of the students, explaining the disadvantages of the otaku leaving.
They should protect the otaku. They should gather food without relying on them, or at least rotate the work.
They would have to fight those guys eventually, and of course fight monsters too. That meant they needed to raise levels.
And what would happen if the otaku were killed.
This was different from before. To survive in this world, they needed to cooperate and learn from each other.
But it didn't change anything.
They were still treating the otaku like convenient errand boys and targets for their frustration. They were still in the same mindset as back at school.
Fighting was scary. Killing living things was unpleasant. Being killed or getting hurt was even worse.
The otaku had been bottom-rung at school, so if they spoke strongly, the otaku would listen. The power of numbers was on their side.
If they had at least asked the otaku properly, maybe some compromise could have been reached. But they couldn't.
If they had begged and pleaded, the otaku might have offered some middle ground. There was no way.
Their pride wouldn't allow it.
In that case, they could just live on with that pride of theirs. That was all there was to it.
And so the otaku ran away. Just the four of them.
While being chased by the fake delinquents and even by the students they had helped.
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The heavy story finally ended, and we moved on to a late lunch. Mushrooms again, of course. Then we talked about what happened in the white room.
We exchanged all sorts of other information too. Since they could do it right away, I learned Concealment from them, and in return I gave them some juice to take along.
When I mentioned I only had Staff Arts, they told me about Shinto Muso-ryu staff techniques and other famous ones. In return, I stuffed mushrooms into their bags.
We talked until morning. How long had it been since I spoke this much? It wasn't just one or two months, so it probably wasn't because of my Loner Lv2.
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Late dinner. They say if you eat right before bed you'll turn into a cow, but since they were otaku it was fine. Class change from otaku to cow. You could even call it evolution.
I had fed them mushrooms morning, noon, and night, raising them all the way to cows. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I raised these cows myself!! Alright, time for Donadona.
They took baths too, and the otaku seemed to have finished preparing for their journey. All that was left was sleep.
"So, we're thinking of heading to town from here. Want to come with us?"
An invitation. Was this the happiness pot?
"Sorry, I'm not religious."
I answered while looking away. Perfect response.
"No, it has nothing to do with religion!"
Persistent.
"I don't have a TV at home, so I'll pass."
How about that? Final answer.
"It's not N●K either. Besides, having a TV in another world would be scary!!"
What!? Even that didn't work!?
Well, teasing them too much would be rude when they were seriously inviting me.
"To be honest, becoming an adventurer is impossible for me with my skills. I'm planning to live a quiet retired life around here. Thanks for the invitation, though."
My cursed status would only drag them down.
On the other hand, I couldn't stop them from going. They were itching to get to town. Had they already forgotten that people were trying to kill them?
I had considered becoming an adventurer in town. It was the standard route. But in town you had to pay for lodging and meals. To earn that money, you needed the strength to fight strong monsters.
Here, cave lodging was free, I gathered food myself on-site, and the surroundings were only weak goblins, so it was safe.
Even if it meant a lower standard of living, safety might actually be higher in the forest. I didn't know how safe the town was, and it would be even worse as an outsider.
"What are you talking about, not becoming an adventurer after coming to another world!!"
"Just come with us. There's strength in numbers!! Bro!"
"You can become an adventurer. In town there should be weapons with skills too."
"There are tons of young girls in town!!"
Who are you calling bro? They were really pushing, but I was different from you cheat holders. What's wrong with being a hikikomori NEET loner!? Well, it's the worst, actually.
Besides, "young girls"? You guys are sixteen, right? Or are you old men? Wait, how old did this guy mean by "young girls"? Should I call the police?
"No, it's impossible. All my skills are misses, plus the titles are dragging me down… and I only have Earth Magic."
I could actually use Fire Magic too, but I kept that quiet.
"That's not true. You're already able to fight the stronger monsters around here…"
"Just being an otherworlder makes you stronger. Even if your skills are mediocre, if you raise your level…"
"You could use Earth Magic to build a town and become a lord, then develop it with modern knowledge and technology."
"Even stone furniture like this could let you start a big trading company in the Middle Ages…"
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"You have Staff Arts, so you could try a long staff…"
"Even a three-section staff might work!!"
"You could make walls with Earth Magic and snipe from behind…"
"Health is important. There are no hospitals here."
Wait, wasn't the otaku quartet's knowledge level insanely high?
If it weren't for them, a group of forty-two regular high school students in a monster-filled forest would probably have been wiped out.
Even though they'd been treated so badly at school, they gathered food for all forty-two people and distributed it, and taught everyone how to use their skills. They were probably pretty good guys.
" Towns are usually along rivers. If you keep going downstream…"
"There's an elf town deep in the forest…"
"No, if it's beastmen, then in the forest…"
"From high ground you could make a map…"
Just listening to them was pretty educational… or it would have been.
"No, there'll definitely be slaves. Beautiful girl ones."
"The young ladies must be waiting for me while being chased by bandits!"
"Is touch Yes or No? That is the question…"
"When you think of a town, it's the innkeeper's daughter!!"
""""Waaah waaah waaah""""
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"No, there'll only be kemonomimi there. Fluffy ears, man!"
"Ero elves are definitely waiting while being attacked by tentacles!!"
"Dwarf girls are definitely tiny!!"
"I won't accept anything but kuu loli!"
""""This and that! That and this!""""
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Yeah, that's enough. Time to kick them out quickly.