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Chapter 16. Meal
After leaving the black market, Sakimori moved to a decent street in the outer town. The food there is of dubious provenance, so I want to eat as little as possible.
After shopping at one of the stores lining the street, which looked unusually upscale for the glass-walled outer town, I quickly moved on to my destination with the children.
The store was made of barracks, with pork hanging in the back of the store and a spit-roasted pig roasting on a charcoal fire in the front. A small pot is simmering on the stove, and it smells good.
Around the stove, rickety tables and chairs are lined up, and people can be seen eating. I see old men in work clothes drinking beer and laughing noisily.
“This is a good place. Eat all you want.”
I sit down in a rickety chair and wave my hand in the air. I expected the kids to cheer and buy food, but they all fidget, looking at each other.
I click my tongue and stand up, saying that I was being unwise.
“Point to what you like. It’s today’s paycheck.”
This time, the kids cheer and move to the storefront.
[The children have never held money before, and they can’t read.]
[Well, we could educate them for a while. Maybe we can ask one of the adults to help them.]
I shrug at Shizuku’s words. It’s easy to forget those children have never been educated. That’s because compulsory education was the norm when I was a child. In other words, adults at the old man’s level can write and do the math. If children are not the same, they forget. Children may not have soft hearts to hurt, but still.
“Me, this!”
“Me, this meat skewer!”
“Mmm. Me, this!”
“Hey, hey. Order until you’re full, okay?”
I walk and order some food from the owner. It’s a cheap restaurant, but it’s good. The old man won’t exploit them. I’ll take what’s appropriate for my position, though.
A large number of plates are placed on the table. They have soup meat skewers, grilled vegetables, and so on. The plates get laid out in a narrow space.
The children competed with each other to pick up a plate and eat.
“What is this?
“It’s pancake.”
One of the children pointed to the soup, so I told him. It’s made of greens and hardened flour floating on the surface. It’s salty, but not too salty.
“It’s delicious! Suiton good!”
“The meat is delicious too!”
“Another bowl?”
It’s about 1,500 yen per person. Well, that’s about right. After gently staring at the children munching hard, Sakimori looks around, pretending to be absentminded.
[Some of them are acting strange.]
[I guess so. I’ll give those people a little warning.]
To be conspicuous is to attract such people. It’s like a moth to a fire.
I’m thinking hard-boiled thoughts, I thought, laughing inwardly with a “kukukuku,” and Shizuku was absentmindedly stretching out her arms in her spare time.
Some men followed us from the black market at the edge of the road. They seem to be having some conversation. They don’t seem to want to be friends.
“Um, thank you for having us as your men! We can’t repay you for all you’ve done for us.”
“Thank you.”
“Thankies.”
“Can I have another one?”
The leader boy stops eating and bows his head with a serious expression. The other children bow their heads as well. Only one looks longingly at the empty bowl, so I hand him the exact amount of coins to ask for another bowl.
“Thank you!”
He scoots over to the owner and watches with glowing eyes as he serves the suiton into his bowl. The other kids are sobbing, too, so I go back for more.
“You guys are paying me back in labor. Don’t worry about it. It’s fair compensation. I wish I could give you money, but I’m sure you’d get robbed or scammed in no time. You’ll have to put up with the payment in kind for a while.”
I’ll take care of the money. Sorry, but either the kids could defend themselves, or security will improve.
In the meantime, I’ll have to deal with the people who are giving me nasty looks.
We bought shriveled cabbage and thin burdock-like carrots. A daikon radish also looks like a takwan, but it is a vegetable. All I have to do is buy a bag of salt, and that’s it. All the sales are gone. I spent a lot of money. Well, it can’t be helped.
“We bought quite a lot.”
The quality sucked, though, and through the gate, Sakimori were on their way home. The kids were happily cackling and chattering as they walked. For some reason, a little girl grabbed my hem. I patted her head, and she smiled more and more, which soothed me.
[Shizuku Revenger]
Shizuku floated, puffed up her cheeks, and head-butted me, which was annoying.
[Revenge is the wrong English word to use, okay?]
[Unyu-nyu. It’s one of my three main secrets! Shizuku Revenger! Mooo~ It’s not funny because you don’t understand the original story!!!]
It doesn’t hurt because it’s a ghostly head butt, but it’s a hindrance to walking.
As she floats along, she wonders if this technique is from the Aztecs, tilting her head and smiling at Shizuku, who is flirting with her, as she walks through the ruins.
Since we are close to the outer town, not many demons appear. It’s quite a distance from my house, so it’s a long walk.
I hear the occasional dog howl in the silence and walk down the unpopular street.
“Oh, kids. Gather at my place for a minute.”
Then, with a huff and a sigh, I stop and call out to the children. Children with vegetables on their backs gather around them, wondering what it is.
There are no demons, but the others show up.
I think with half an eye as I hear a bish in the air and stop like an arrow piercing the air.
“Wow, what?”
“Arrow!”
“It’s a robbery!”
“Don’t move here, okay? It’s a promise with an old man.”
The arrows that flying at me stopped in mid-air and fell without any force.
“It’s a [Shadow Barrier]. Sorry, but you’re just wasting arrow money.”
Sakimori’s shadow stretched unnaturally to cover its surroundings. When the arrow’s shadow touches it, the arrow stops and falls. It’s an improved version of [Shadow Barrier], [Shadow Binding]. When the shadow touches it, it stops the enemy. It’s not as powerful, but if the arrow stops for even a moment, it loses its power and falls. It’s impossible to stop a bullet, but an arrow is fine.
“Damn you, you have skills!”
A flurry of dirty-looking men came out of the abandoned building cursing. There were ten of them. Each holding a rusty knife, iron pipe, or nail bat. And a few had bow guns. A rusty knife is dangerous, so you should polish it.
“You’ve been following us this whole time. Good job.”
I shrug my head, tell them with a jittery look, and look at the men surrounding us. The kids are shaking with fear, but it’s okay.
“Looks like business is booming, huh? Even though they’re from an abandoned town. Where did you get all that good stuff?”
One of the biggest guys steps forward and asks. I see, he thought I had found an untouched boutique. I guess the word hasn’t gotten out about the store yet.
Besides, he sees my shadow magic and doesn’t seem to be afraid of it.
[Aztec Drop Revenger]
[Um, Shizuku, can you please get out of my way, it’s time for you to stop?]
Shizuku is persistently head-butting me, and I’m having a hard time dealing with them over here. You can’t talk to the enemy, can you?
I regain my composure and glare at my opponent with a chilling stare.
“You think you’re going to teach them to attack us out of the blue?”
“Heh, just ask the kids who survived. Hey, you guys, get ’em!”
Hey, the robbers are coming toward us, but didn’t these guys see my magic?
[They probably think you’re only skilled enough to block arrows.]
I agree as Shizuku finally stops head-butting and tells me. There’s not much in magic that prevents arrows.
“Well then, shall I show you a magic good enough to prevent arrows?”
With a swish, I point my index finger at the robber and wave it sideways.
[Fire Wave.]
A few centimeters thick flame shoots out from the index finger like a string, heading toward the enemy as if to reap them.
Of course, it is not hot enough to reduce the enemy to ashes. But even flames just a few centimeters thick are a nuisance with magical flames.
“Hurtz!”
“Turn it off!”
“Guah!”
I take robbers seriously, their skin and clothes burning. Dirty and greasy, the flames spread quickly, and they roll around on the ground.
The robbers approaching from behind are similarly fed the flames and left to burn. There won’t be much damage. The goal is to slow down the enemy. Living creatures are afraid of even the slightest bit of flame on their bodies. It takes more than a simple robbery to suppress that instinct. Even if they know they will be killed by the next attack.
“Sloppy bastards!”
The boss man, his large body trembling with anger, comes running toward us. He doesn’t scare at the sight of fire, you see.
[Fire Arrow]
I create a flaming arrow and shoot it. The blazing flames scatter sparks of fire and close in on the boss, but he smiles viciously and thrusts out his fist.
[Iron Skin]
He stepped forward quickly as if he were a boxer crumbling, and the straight from his right fist that gets unleashed was a clean punch. The fire arrow was bounced by that straight and fizzled out.
“Hoh?”
After looking at the boss’s right arm, his fist shows a dull iron sheen. It’s not normal skin. Sakimori squints slightly, as if by skill.
“You see! My [Ironization] makes my skin have the hardness of iron! Your puny flaming arrows won’t work!”
“I see. I see. You have some territory in the outer town, don’t you? With that kind of power…”
The man must have thought I was afraid of his words. He bent his mouth into an ugly curve and gave me a condescending look.
“That’s right! I didn’t want to come to an abandoned town. If it’s a good place to make money, I guess I’ll have to.”
“Well, that’s too bad.”
It’s a shame. This man must have worked hard on his skills. He has reached level one.
“Ha. It’s no use begging for your life now, huh?”
Let me correct the misunderstanding with the man who is sneering at me.
“I say it’s a shame because I see the effort in you. You should have been a quiet thug in the outer city.”
He concentrates his magical power on his index finger tightly and looks at the guy with pity.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“What, an abandoned town is not like an outer town. It’s decided that if you get seriously hurt, you’ll die.”
[Mass Fire Arrow]
A fire arrow is born at the tip of my index finger. Unlike the previous one, this fire arrow consumes plenty of mana. It’s magic made possible by the tripling of the magical power status.
A light shining like magma peeks out from behind the flames, and the surrounding air shimmers with heat. The air around him is shimmering with the heat. He does not know what it is because my magic doesn’t hurt him, but it must be very hot.
With a quick flex of my index finger, the cohesive fire arrow heads toward the boss unmatched by the previous one.
“Nah? [Iron Straight].”
Using his martial arts, the boss launches his fist at the fire arrow with a magical attack correction on his straight. The fist and the fire arrow collide, and a bashin sound is heard. And then.
“Geez! My arm!”
The boss’s right arm was blown off. It’s melting from the elbow, and flames burned into its body, causing it to sprawl on the ground in agony.
“Your skill is about level 1. I could verify that you can penetrate a thin iron plate.”
“Oh, go straight! Surrender, this is it!”
He cried out and begged for his life as he walked toward me.
“I told you it’s a shame. This is an abandoned town, you know?”
After this battle, the only thing left is death. If you were going to kill people, you should have been prepared to be killed too.
Sakimori cleaned up afterward, giving him a ruthless look, thinking he might have been saved in the outer town.