**Day 9: The Cave**
After all that, it was time for a morning send-off. Who even wants this? I'm sleepy!
"Nn, it's getting light outside. Guess we should wrap it up."
I had stuffed one of the otaku's backpacks full of mushrooms as payment for the information, so they should have enough food for about ten days. Don't trip and fall, you brats.
Alright, off you go back into the forest. They said they wanted to reach a town, though.
"Don't let your classmates hunt you down, okay? Take care. Shoo, shoo."
"Shoo, shoo…? Thanks for having us?"
"You really won't come with us?"
Persistent guys. If they were girls, maybe I would have tagged along. They were JKs, after all.
"But I refuse!"
I struck a JoJo pose as I answered.
""""You call us otaku, but you're definitely one of us!""""
"Rude. I do read manga and light novels, but I don't go around saying 'moe~' or anything."
What were they even talking about?
"No, we don't say that."
"Yeah, we hardly ever use it."
"Only occasionally."
"I only use it for 2D, de gozaru!"
The otaku all protested at once. Noisy until the very end. That last one was especially bad. Moe pig, rest in peace.
"Thanks for everything. Let's meet again sometime."
"You saved us. We'll repay the favor, so come to town soon, okay?"
"Seriously, if you don't get to town soon, you're gonna turn into a wild man."
"…Thanks."
Come to town? You haven't even found it or reached it yet. And I won't turn into a wild man. I'm turning into a hikikomori instead.
"Hurry up and go. See ya."
""""We're off~!""""
And so the otaku set off on their journey to the unseen town of this other world. Whether the town actually existed was another question.
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"Fuuuuh…"
Munching on the not-very-tasty dried meat from my preserved rations, I headed deeper into the forest.
They'd given me advice—or rather a suggestion—to raise my level and fight physically, so I went looking for goblins.
Experience-wise, kobolds and orcs were supposed to be better, but they were also supposedly stronger.
For now, goblins it was. I'd think about kobolds and orcs when I actually ran into them. No point making countermeasures until I saw them in action.
So whenever I found a goblin, it was hyahhaaah!
And whenever I found another, wahhyahhaaah!
Wait, was I turning into a villain? This was bad. I might end up with a title like Mohawk or something.
I was fine.
The otaku had said the goblins around the cave were strong, but…??? Their levels were around 10 to 15. Skills were "Hammer Arts," "Heavy Strike," and "Body Slam." Total small fry, right?
They'd probably just panicked because they ran out of MP. They had cheats and were level 16, after all.
Well, they used to get bullied and were terrible at sports, so maybe their actual combat ability wasn't as high as their levels suggested.
Hm? There was something over here. Oh.
The features I'd heard matched: blue, tall, slender, dog-like face. Easy to spot.
That must be a kobold. First, Appraisal.
**Kobold A**
**AGE:** 08
**Lv:** 11
**HP:** 40
**MP:** 4
**ViT:** 26
**PoW:** 22
**SpE:** 37
**DeX:** 24
**MiN:** 2
**InT:** 5
**LuK:** 18
**Martial Arts:** "Claw Arts Lv3" "Bite Lv2" "Body Slam Lv1"
**Skills:** "Leap Lv1" "Intimidate Lv1" "Presence Detection Lv1" "Olfaction Lv3" "Cooperation Lv1"
**Equipment:** "Wooden Stick"
**Kobold B**
**AGE:** 08
**Lv:** 10
**HP:** 41
**MP:** 5
**ViT:** 22
**PoW:** 23
**SpE:** 38
**DeX:** 22
**MiN:** 2
**InT:** 4
**LuK:** 21
**Martial Arts:** "Claw Arts Lv2" "Bite Lv2" "Body Slam Lv1"
**Skills:** "Leap Lv1" "Intimidate Lv1" "Olfaction Lv3" "Cooperation Lv1"
**Equipment:** "Wooden Stick"
Stronger than goblins, especially with speed more than triple mine.
Could I win? No, two of them was probably dangerous. When I tried to back away, our eyes met. Don't look at me.
Ah, it had Presence Detection. Whoa, fast.
Nn? They weren't charging all at once? Damn, they were coordinating.
They circled around, trying to pincer me from front, back, left, and right. One came from behind.
"Gyafun!!"
Yes! The counter landed perfectly. I'd actually been watching with Presence Detection while using Focus to aim. Never thought I'd hear "gyafun" for real one day… whoa.
"Danger—gyaaaaah…!"
I hadn't let my guard down, but it was too fast. It bit me in an instant.
I managed to knock away the one jabbing with the stick, but the other one bit me. If I hadn't guarded with my left arm, it would have gone for my head… a full-face chomp?
"Guwaaah… gh… it huuurts!"
I was dragged down while it kept my arm in its jaws. Bad.
Too close to stab, and I couldn't put power into swinging.
Since it was still biting my left hand, attacks to its dog head landed but didn't do much.
My hand hurt, and its claws were tearing at my body. This hurts, damn it—
I focused my mind and wrapped even more magic power around my "Wooden Stick?" Using Weight and Packing to make the stick heavier and stronger, I hammered it down with just an elbow snap. Fungaah!
**Thwack!!**
"Whoa."
Kobold defeated… gross. The moment I hit it, its head caved in and burst.
I seriously thought I was going to die for real.
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I somehow calmed down and, figuring I should at least vent my grudge, pulled out the magic stones and appraised them. "Magic Stone F-rank"… Even though they were pretty strong, same as goblins? Not worth it.
These were supposed to be worth money if I brought them to town, but if they paid the same amount, everyone would just hunt goblins instead, right? Was the otherworld guild okay?
Well, I didn't even know if the town existed.
Nn, geeh! My HP was in trouble. My level had gone up, but my remaining HP was critical.
**NAME:** Haruka
**Race:** Human
**AGE:** 16
**Lv:** 04
**Job:** --
**HP:** 7/50 （15 UP）
**MP:** 9/47 （15 UP）
**ViT:** 52 （15 UP）
**PoW:** 48 （13 UP）
**SpE:** 43 （15 UP）
**DeX:** 43 （15 UP）
**MiN:** 50 （14 UP）
**InT:** 55 （15 UP）
**LuK:** Max（Limit Break）
**SP:** 34
**Martial Arts:** "Staff Arts Lv3" (Up) "Evasion Lv3" (Up) "Foresight Lv2" "Magic Wrap Lv2"
**Magic:** "Temperature Lv2" "Movement Lv3" (Up) "Weight Lv2" (Up) "Packing Lv3" (Up) "Fire Magic Lv2" "Earth Magic Lv2"
**Skills:** "Health Lv2" "Sensitive Lv2" "Calisthenics Lv2" "Walking Lv3" "Servitude Lv1" "Appraisal Lv3" "Clairvoyance Lv2" "Presence Detection Lv2" "Enemy Search Lv2" "Magic Manipulation Lv2" "Presence Blocking Lv2" (Up) "Stealth Lv1" "Concealment Lv1" "Map Lv1" "Focus Lv1" (New) "Physical Resistance Lv1" (New)
**Titles:** "Hikikomori Lv2" "NEET Lv1" "Loner Lv2"
**Unknown:** "HouRenSou Lv1" "Jack of All Trades Lv1" "Useless Blockhead Lv1"
**Equipment:** "Wooden Stick?" "Cloth Clothes?" "Leather Gloves?" "Leather Boots?" "Cloak?" "Contacts?" "Ring of Soul Torment" "Item Bag" "Bracelet PoW +1"
Consecutive fights were way too much. I erased my presence and quietly retraced my steps.
Sneak… sneak…
Crap, something was there.
Turned out it was just some goblin buddies. Hyahhaaah!
"I'm home~. Fuuuuh…"
Between the lack of sleep and everything else, the moment I got back I collapsed onto the bed. It was stone, so it hurt.
I was back. Yeah… at some point this had completely become my home.
With the four otaku gone, the room that had felt spacious even with five people now looked a bit bare when I was alone. Still, it was completely my home now.
I had a mountain of things to think about today. First, the information from the otaku. There was also the matter of the classmates deeper in the forest, plus general otherworld info. Even though most of it came from light novels, anime, and games, they knew a surprising amount. They didn't call themselves otaku for nothing.
Thinking about how all that knowledge would have been useless if they hadn't come to this world, maybe the otaku were actually happy. They looked more alive than they had at school, and I never imagined they could talk that much. Well, most of it was insults toward their classmates.
I had read quite a few isekai light novels, but the otaku really had information on a whole different level. The classmate army had apparently just used them as convenient tools, but in reality they had no knowledge at all. While everyone else was still confused about statuses and skills, the otaku understood the situation and could actually use their skills properly.
It would have been nice if they had asked nicely, but instead they took out their frustration on the lowest-ranked members of the class for being useful while they themselves couldn't do anything. In this situation, trying to treat the otaku—who had been protecting everyone from monsters and even gathering food—like errand boys according to school hierarchy was hopeless. It was only natural they got abandoned.
The most useful people had run away, leaving them with nothing to rely on and no knowledge. It was their own fault, but things were probably pretty chaotic right about now.
Still, I was surprised they all had multi-tools prepared in case of an isekai transfer. All four of them.
And the kobolds I'd heard about. Those were dangerous. Fast, and they bit. Their claws were nasty too. Wait… weren't they stronger without the sticks?
I was lucky my cloth clothes hadn't torn. The glove that got chewed on was still intact. Both had question marks, but they really held up.
At my current level, if there were multiple kobolds I wouldn't stand a chance. The club-smashing tactic seemed to have reached its limit too. Staff Arts, huh… I'd have to practice.
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I had seen sword techniques before, and I'd even done kendo. Spears and naginata I'd only seen on TV. Staff Arts… even the glasses-wearing magic user from that super popular movie hadn't been smashing people with his staff.
I pictured fight scenes from manga and anime, swinging like a sword, thrusting like a spear, creating my own forms and repeating them.
"Fuuuuuuuh…"
I had already reached my physical limit, but I'd gotten too absorbed.
My imaginary Shinto Muso-ryu staff techniques were pretty chuuni, but I'd managed to form an image. After all, it was supposed to be "thrust like a spear, sweep like a naginata, hold like a sword." It couldn't be helped if my middle-school syndrome flared up again. I even struck some signature poses. If anyone had seen me, I would have wanted to die. Good thing I was a loner.
The floor was slippery with sweat, so that was enough. Leaving the floor like this felt wrong, and although I was out of stamina, my MP had recovered. Time for some cleaning experiments.
Earth Magic had originally come from wanting to fix the bumpy cave floor. I'd wrapped it with Packing magic and stretched it out, and it worked. So maybe I could wrap water and use it to wipe the floor?
I carried water from my homemade jug to the floor. Hmm, doing it by hand would be faster, but that's a secret. A mass of water raced around the floor. Roomba, rest in peace.
I wiped every corner, then tossed the dirty water outside. Perfect.
"Status."
Oh, there it was: "Water Magic Lv1." Nice. The floor was clean, but it was still damp. Time to blow it out with wind. Of course I was aiming for Wind Magic.
In the end I must have gotten Wind Magic, but the status no longer listed Fire Magic, Earth Magic, or Water Magic separately. Instead it showed "Four Elements Magic Lv1." Since it was the four elements, wind had to be included.
After that, when I wrapped magic power around the wooden stick, I should have gotten Wood Magic. Other likely ones were Lightning, Ice, and Healing Magic, but how was I supposed to wrap lightning?
Just for fun, I tried wrapping magic power around a goblin club.
**Crack!!**
Huh? It broke? I tried another club, this time slowly.
**Snap!**
Whoa!! Goblins' combo!!
Until now, wrapping magic power around my "Wooden Stick?" hadn't done anything, but goblin clubs couldn't handle it?
The possibilities were that my magic power had gotten stronger, or that goblin clubs were just cheap. Or both.
I still had the wooden stick from when I defeated the kobolds. Yeah, no question mark on it.
"Ei!"
**Crack!**
This one broke too. When I wrapped magic power around my "Wooden Stick?" I felt it being enveloped—or rather, absorbed. It was my only weapon, so breaking it would be bad, but I had to test it or it might snap mid-battle. I slowly poured magic power into the "Wooden Stick?" Oh, there was that feeling.
I kept feeding it little by little. It still felt like it could take more.
Careful not to break it… slowly, slowly, slowly… whoa.
There was a strange sensation. Did it break?
I hurriedly used Appraisal. "Tree Staff?"
Hm? Tree Staff? It had felt like something was pulsing. Had it grown? Was it made from living wood?
It seemed fine to use, but was it really okay? No good—my MP was gone and sleepiness hit me all at once…
Time to sleep.