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

Chapter 47 – College Visit

―Hishin University.

After the calamity’s occurrence, this place had been turned into a shelter. All of the buildings had earthquake-proof architecture, and because of its large scale, it had always been a reliable pillar for the residents.

The university was a private institution with fairly good academic specs, and it even had a tradition of holding an annual school festival which was so exciting that it was covered on television.

Upon arriving at the university, I spotted a large sports field where there was temporary housing set up. The area was filled with a certain kind of liveliness. Although living in buildings was an option, the students were living in an open space due to the danger of being unable to escape if the building were to become a dungeon.

It was true that if they were living in a gymnasium and monsters suddenly appeared, there would only be a few exits available to them. In that situation, only some of the people would be able to escape in the spur of the moment. It was also highly likely that people would end up blocking the exits in their panic to escape.

On the other hand, if they lived outside, they could quickly escape in any direction. Plus, it was close to the main gate, so it was an advantageous location in many ways.

I set foot onto the sports ground and caught sight of a cooking area, which had been set up like a camping facility, and nearby there were some women preparing food.

The men were doing manual labor like building new temporary housing, setting up furniture, and so on. The children were helping their parents look after the smaller children. Overall, it was a peaceful sight, as far as I could tell.

Anyway… the number of people here was pretty amazing.

The university had three sports fields of varying sizes, which were all quite large. But all three of them were being used, which revealed just how many people were living here.

“I guess that just goes to show how quickly the dungeonization has been progressing.”

At that moment…

“Shut up! Like I said, hurry up and hand the damn thing over!”
I heard an angry shout and looked over, spotting a disagreement breaking out in the kitchen.

There were three rather crude-looking men and women, and they all seemed to be of a fairly young age. To top things off, the guys were carrying weapons like clubs and knives.

They seemed to be telling the people working in the kitchen to prioritize handing over the food they had just made to them.

“I already told you! The mealtimes are fixed! It’s the rules here, so you better listen!”
The auntie in the kitchen was summoning her courage to admonish the youngsters.

“She’s right! Besides, if you’re going to live here, you better do your jobs properly!”
“Haven’t you heard of the proverb ‘if a man will not work, he shall not eat’?”
The other women working in the kitchen began yelling to back the grandma up.

Then, one of those youths kicked a nearby garbage bin to threaten them and said, “Shut the fuck up, old hags!”

As expected, the women were frightened into silence by his menacing glare.

“Don’t worry. If any monsters show up here, we’ll get rid of ‘em. We ain’t gonna be able to fight on empty stomachs, you hear me? Huuuh?”
Totally shameless. If monsters really showed up, they’d probably be the first to run away.

The men who were working nearby gathered around to see what was going on, but since they knew that they were dealing with a dangerous group of armed men, they couldn’t act carelessly.

These guys could easily take the children hostage. The smart thing to do would be to quickly give them food and chase them out of here. People like this were definitely going to demand more food than they needed.

If that happened, their own portions would decrease. And that meant the children would suffer too.

But… this is convenient. I should make use of this opportunity as much as I can.

I went straight up to those assholes.

“C’mon, hurry up and hand it o―!?”
One of those youths raised the baton in his right hand to swing it. But right before he did, I grabbed his hand and stopped him.

“Huh!? W-Who the hell are you?!” The youth naturally cried out in surprise.

“That’s not good. You shouldn’t swing such a dangerous thing around. What if it hits the children?” (Torimoto)
“H-Hah!? Shut up! Get your hand off of m―w-what the hell, I can’t move! What the hell is this monstrous strength?!”
To me, it was just a light grip, but the effect of the [Perfect Ring] was great.

“Don’t get carried away, fucking bastard!” a guy behind me roared, swinging his wooden sword at my head. I immediately switched positions with the guy I had grabbed.

―Craaacckk!

In a horrible display of friendly fire, that guy ended up nailing his buddy right in the forehead, causing blood to flow out as he fainted.

“T-Takashi!”
Oh, he’s this flustered from accidentally hitting him, huh? Ah, so this guy’s name is Takashi.

I let go of the unconscious Takashi’s hand, and he collapsed to the ground.

“B-Bastard! How dare you do that to Takashi!”
“No, no. You were the one who did it, weren’t you?” (Torimoto)
“Shut the hell up! Hey, Takasu! Let’s get him together!”
“Y-Yeah! Let’s go, Tengawa!”
Takasu… Tengawa?

For some reason, these surnames sounded familiar. When I looked closely at their faces again, I had a vague recollection.

…! That’s right. These guys… they went to my school, didn’t they?

They had been in a different class, but they were part of the guys who had wagged their tails for Ohsaka and bullied me. That guy who they called Takashi was probably Horiuchi.

Now that I looked closer, the girls with them were the clique of gyarus who had been in my class. They were the bitches who used to talk about me behind my back. I had no recollection of their names.

(TL: Gyaru girls – a certain female fashion trend in Japan that often shows up in anime and manga. They have tanned skin and blonde hair, and are usually depicted as talking in a manner that makes them come across as shallow gossip girls, or something along those lines.)

Looks like they had gotten out of that disaster alive.

“Go Shinji!” (Gyaru 1)
“Huh? Ya know, that guy’s actually kinda hot! He’s totally my type.” (Gyaru 2)
“Hey, that was my boyfriend that got beaten up, ya know?” (Gyaru 1)
The girls didn’t seem to be nervous at all. They didn’t seem to think that Takasu and his buddies would lose at all. Well, they had weapons and they had me outnumbered, so it was pretty normal to think that way.

But… they’re up against the wrong opponent.

Bam, whack, thud, bonk!

Several smacking sounds rang out, and a few second later―

“N-No way…!” (Gyaru 1)
“Huh? W-What? Seriously?” (Gyaru 2)
“All three of them… got beaten up…!?” (Gyaru 3)
The girls’ faces were all frozen in utter disbelief.

Well, then again… all of their boyfriends had been beaten into the dirt.

“―Now then.” (Torimoto)
Hearing my words, the girls jumped with a start.

“Are you coming at me next? Ah, don’t worry. Despite my appearances, I’m a firm advocate for gender equality. I won’t spare any punches to the face, you see.” (Torimoto)
“““Hyyyaaaaaa!!??”””
The girls abandoned their boyfriends and ran away, frightened by the dangerous tone in my words.

““““Woooww!!””””
Immediately after, there was a huge cheer from the residents.

“U-Um, your face doesn’t look familiar, but thank you!”
It was the auntie who had taken the initiative to stand up against Horiuchi. She seemed like a gutsy woman with a stout build and a brave heart.

“It was nothing. I’m a traveler, and I just happened to stumble upon this area where there were a lot of people and thought I’d take a look.” (Torimoto)
“Traveler? That’s rare.” (Auntie)
“Hey, more importantly, what’s your name?”
“Ah, yeah, I want to know! By the way, my name is―”
“Hey, what are you trying to get a head start for?! You have a husband, don’t you?!”
I found myself surrounded by women, and I didn’t know how to react. Women from their teens to their thirties were all getting excited and squealing around me.

W-What an amazing amount of pressure. I guess it’s because Torimoto is handsome.

With my own face, I surely wouldn’t have been able to pull off something like this.

“Okay, okay. You all still have work to do. And you guys who are slacking off over there. Hurry up and get back to work.”
As expected of the gutsy auntie. After giving a few sharp remarks, the men scattered especially fast. In the process, some of them passed by me and patted me on the shoulder or back and said ‘thanks’.

There were some ladies who also went back to work after being scolded, but…

“Come, come! Have a seat if you’d like! The least we can do is treat you to some tea and snacks!”
The other ladies pulled me along by the hand and made me sit at a table in the kitchen. In front of me, there was some green tea and Japanese rice crackers laid out on the table.

But then, two little girls came up to me and gazed hungrily at the rice crackers. They seemed to be twins, with how much they resembled one another.