As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback

Chapter 46 – Compensation for Risking One’s Life

Fortunately, the Inochi-shirazu didn’t approach me the following day after those underlings came to attack me. However, Sol wasn’t able to get much information about Kuzuhara. We did find out that the Inochi-shirazu’s hideout was in a certain love hotel.

Kuzuhara seemed to be inside there, but the security was too tight, so it would be difficult to break in. Even so, we learned that Kuzuhara had issued orders to bring the kidnapped women to this love hotel. Unfortunately, he never came out himself, so I couldn’t see what his face looked like.

Also, there was one more piece of good news. We finally received a request to clear a dungeon.

It was just before noon when I was going around town. A car stopped in front of me yet again. I was on guard because I thought it was those annoying guys again, but instead, three people stepped out of the car—one sincere-looking man with glasses, and a woman with a baby in her arms.

It was then that I knew they wouldn’t attack me under their circumstances. Just as I had thought, they requested me to help reclaim their shop, which had become dungeonized, and defeat the monsters within.

As it turned out, they were a married couple who ran a cafe, and they had finally acquired the store a month ago after taking out a loan. But after the world became like this, they decided to close down the shop’s operations since it wasn’t making them a profit under these circumstances. However, they had just acquired the store after all, so they still wanted to keep it and maintain it with care.

Unfortunately, three days ago, their cafe was turned into a dungeon. In an effort to try and take the cafe back, the husband picked up a weapon and tried to defeat the monsters, but there was too big of a gap in strength. In the end, he was unable to do anything.

Just when he was thinking that there was no choice but to give up on the store, he heard a rumor about me and came to look for me as a final, desperate measure.

However… it didn’t seem to be worth the money.

In the first place, they had borrowed money to acquire the cafe. I didn’t even think they had enough money on hand to pay me.

In that case…

“I’m sorry, but this request… I’ll have to refuse.” (Komon)
“…!? H-How come?! You’ve been getting rid of those monsters without compensation!” (Man)
“No. I don’t know where you heard that, but I’m not out here doing charity work. Obviously. Fighting against monsters means I’m putting my life on the line. Isn’t it normal to ask for an appropriate compensation for doing that?” (Komon)
“Compensation… What do you want? Food? Or medicine, or something like that?” (Man)
The fact that he hadn’t even mentioned money here was just a sign of the times.

“To put it one way, I’m seeking gold, silver, and treasure.” (Komon)
“Gold, silver, and treasure? ….Y-You mean money?” (Man)
“Money, or any valuable commodity is fine. It can be anything as long as it has proportionate value.” (Komon)
The man hung his head with a difficult expression. Well, if that’s how it is, I won’t be able to accept your request, unfortunately.

I always refused to accept requests from people who couldn’t pay me. If word of this spread, then next time, only rich people would come looking for me. If that happened, it would be just as I hoped.

“Well, goodbye then.” (Komon)
It may have been cruel, but I had no obligation to help him with this situation. Just as I was about to turn heel and walk away…

“―Wait!”
The one who raised her voice to stop me was his wife.

“…What is it?” (Komon)
“Why?! You have the strength to defeat monsters!” (Woman)
“Yes, I do.” (Komon)
“Then why won’t you help us? We’re weak! And we have a baby!” (Woman)
A child… I didn’t think that had anything to do with the shop, but…

Then, I saw a hint of a smile appear on the husband’s face.

…I see. Did he bring his wife and child with him to try and evoke sympathy if they were turned down?

I’m sorry, but… that’s a bad move.

A normal guy might have been moved, but my emotions wouldn’t be swayed by a guy who used his child like a tool to try and evoke pity from others. It would be the same if it was a relative trying to pull this on me. Either way, it wasn’t like we really knew each other.

It would certainly be cruel to abandon the baby, but I wasn’t out here doing charity work. If there were no benefits for me, there was no reason to take action.

“We’re begging you! Please help us, for this child’s sake!” (Man)
The husband bowed his head, clearly on board with the scheme. Of course, the wife also bowed her head. The baby didn’t know what was going on, so its gaze was swimming around with uncertainty.

“….I refuse.” (Komon)
“W-What… We went this far to beg you and you still refuse?! Why?! It’s fine to just help us, isn’t it?!” (Woman)
“Exactly! That cafe is our treasure! We have to get it back no matter what! If you have the power, then you should help us!” (Man)
They began to appeal to me with tearful eyes.

“….Sigh. I told you before, but if you want me to help then you’ll have to provide me with compensation. Something of equivalent value to this cafe that you value so dearly. Let’s say… ¥3,000,000.” (Komon)
“That’s obviously impossible! If we had that kind of money left, we wouldn’t be in debt!” (Man)
Well, duh. That’s why I refused.

“Then how about you offer me the house you’re living in now?”
If they agreed, I wouldn’t mind accepting the offer. If I sold the house, I could make enough money. As long as they were prepared to live in the store after losing their house, that is.

“T-That…. We can’t do that.” (Man)
“Then that’s the end of our discussion.” (Komon)
“W-Wait―” (Man)
“I’m risking my life to fight monsters. Or are you trying to say that my life has no value?” (Komon)
Hearing my words, the two of them hung their heads as if my words struck them to the core. After that, they didn’t say anything more and just stood there.

I walked away from them, ending things there.

I was sure that the couple would be angry with me for what I’d done and that they would probably try to spread around what happened to them today to others. Perhaps they would call me an inhumane brute or a money-grubber.

But I was fine with that. My targets were the ones who could provide me with profits. It might sound bad, but I had no use for the poor.

In other words, I preferred the haves over the have-nots. If it were Jouichirou, who liked humans and believed in them, he would probably choose to save them without compensation.

But all I wanted was to use these people so I could obtain the lifestyle I desired.

“It’s about time a real request came in.”
I wanted to find some people who would actually make me money, not people who would just spread around rumors like those people just now.

So far, all of my business deals had gone nicely without a single problem, but it made sense that things wouldn’t always go the way I wanted. In that case, it might take a little while before Komon’s operations could start for real.

“It might be good to call it here for today and switch to door-to-door sales. Or maybe I could try to sell the name of the Restorer more?”
The arms dealer business was tied to the Apostles of Peace. They would probably spread Enjou’s name around, so I should probably establish a system for other people to be able to contact Enjou as well.

“Geez, I’m so busy. Well, it’s a good thing I suppose.”
After all, being busy meant I would earn that much more profit. Out of these businesses, the one that could bring in the most income in one go was the Restorer. In this world, the number of injured people was dramatically increasing.

On top of that, there were many people who were suffering serious disabilities, such as lost limbs or paralysis, which could never be cured. If I went to a hospital, it would be possible to find an endless number of customers.

In Torimoto’s case, however, if he acted publicly, he was sure to attract more people like the ones I had just encountered. There would be a lot of people who would say that if he has the power, he should heal people without demanding anything in return.

To be honest, it was irritating to have such people come to me. But it was also true that they could earn me money. Rather than that, it wasn’t possible to force other people to say certain things after business meetings, so rumors would always spread and more trouble would come along with it too.

“…Well, if that happens, at worst I could just shapeshift to deal with those people.”
If another Restorer appeared and Jouichirou and his family heard about it, they would assume that I was lying about being the only one in the whole world, which might mean that they wouldn’t associate with me anymore.

But before that happened, I just had to make a lot of money from the Fukuzawa family.

“With that in mind… maybe I should put up some flyers? If it were possible to use the internet, it would be an easy matter to spread information to a large number of anonymous people. But nowadays, word of mouth is the best information method.”
But at the same time, there wasn’t such a rush to expand my reach. The rumors about me were spreading slowly but surely, so there might not be a need for me to be impatient.

“Right. I guess I’ll go to a shelter today as the Restorer.”
If I went there, it might be possible to hear about any houses that were turned into dungeons. And if I managed to find someone who would be willing to pay for such a thing, I might be able to generate a request for myself if I tell them about the existence of Komon.

Having decided on my destination, I walked toward one of the shelters that was set up in the city.