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

crescent9-11 minutes 04.06.2022

Chapter 80 

I had heard from Sol what was happening every step of the way. And when I arrived, he seemed to be in a rather unique situation, so I listened carefully to the conversation between Ryudou and Kuzuhara for a while.

Kuzuhara was confident at first, but when Chake was taken from him, Kuzuhara thought that he was truly alone. In the end, he was about to accept Ryudou’s proposal to release Chake in exchange for him swearing his obedience to Ryudou.

Of course, I would have to tell him to hold off on that.

If he did that, it would spell Kuzuhara’s defeat and the loss of my source of revenue that I had worked so hard for. The preparations I had made, the remuneration I was expecting for this request, and even the future plans I had in mind for Kuzuhara would all disappear.

So I appeared before them, unable to remain silent any longer.

“Y-You’re… alone? What about Kuroki and the others?” (Kuzuhara)
“What are you saying? The fact that I’m here could only mean that I’ve surpassed such an obstacle, no?” (Komon)
“No, but…” (Kuzuhara)
Kuzuhara glanced fleetingly in Ryudou’s direction. Ryudou was glaring at me as if he was annoyed about the bad timing of my appearance.

I knew that Ryudou was making use of his silvertongue to sway Kuzuhara’s heart. That was probably why Kuzuhara was suspecting that I was working for Ryudou. He was under the false impression that I would show up here with Kuroki and the others to defeat him.

What an idiot. If that was really the case, there was no need for me to come to such a dangerous place and interrupt the conversation at this point. I would have been fine if I’d just told Kuzuhara when we met up at the entrance of the school that he would end up in a situation where he’d be betrayed by everyone. But I couldn’t do that.

Because if I told him then, I would have remained a normal ally, and he never would have experienced loneliness. So I temporarily stayed in a different place from him, in a place where Ryudou could use his chess pieces to break Kuzuhara’s heart.

He might have been able to figure it out if he had thought about it a little bit, but Kuzuhara’s flaw was that he was too kind-hearted and compassionate, or rather, he got too strongly attached to others.

“You think I betrayed you? That’s nonsense. If I did, I wouldn’t have had Sol help you, would I?” (Komon)
“…?! …That’s… true.” (Kuzuhara)
With that, I could tell from his expression that he finally understood. Then, I turned to examine the black ogre.

It was still struggling with the zombies, but the zombies were at a clear disadvantage. Those black flames seemed to have an extremely troublesome property to them.

Also, its aura was so strong that it had to be an A-Rank monster. It was an opponent that I definitely wouldn’t be able to approach on my own. This guy was really making me work for my reward.

“―Oi, woman.” (Ryudou)
“Hm? …What is it, Ryudou-san who almost broke Kuzuhara-san’s heart but failed to do so?” (Komon)
Ryudou furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure at my sarcastic reply.

“What happened to Kuroki?” (Ryudou)
“You can’t understand just by me being here? In that case, I really have to doubt your level of intelligence, too.” (Komon)
“Don’t fuck around with me! There’s no way Kuroki would lose to a woman like you! He was the undefeated champ of the underground martial arts world, where rules are completely irrelevant and killing happens at every turn! He would be able to toss me around like a child in a fight, even without a skill!” (Ryudou)
Sounds about right. I would have gotten tossed around like a child too if I didn’t have fantasy items. No, it would be more like an infant than a child. After all, he was someone who could take the attacks of an A-Rank monster like Shiki head-on.

If I handed him the [Perfect Ring], he might have really become the strongest human in the world and been able to take Shiki on in a fight.

“Then why didn’t he come here? Could it be… he abandoned you?” (Komon)
“There’s no way that’d happen! There’s no way he’d leave me! In the public world, he was called a murderer and had no choice but to step down from his position as champ. All the people who had been with him up to that point left him, and he was left all alone in the world of underground martial arts. It was me who gave him a place to belong!” (Ryudou)
…I see. That made it clear why Kuroki was staying by Ryudou’s side. Kuroki probably didn’t approve of this guy’s inhuman atrocities. But only Ryudou had offered him a hand when the rest of the world had turned their back on him.

Kuroki must have also felt indebted to Ryudou, who had even prepared a way for him to enter the ring and become a champion again, albeit in the underworld.

A place to stay, huh…?

There was no place like that at the school I went to. It was a world where everyone around me was an enemy, and no one could be trusted.

At the time, if there had been someone to forcefully carve out a place for me to belong, I wouldn’t have betrayed someone like that either. I could tell from Kuroki’s fighting style that he was an honest person who had a strong sense of duty. Even though it was a rotten bastard like Ryudou, he still felt that he owed a great debt to him. That was exactly why Kuroki was doing everything in his power for his sake.

“Ah, damn it! Every last one of these guys are so fucking useless! Why won’t they just listen to my instructions?! If they all had just listened to me, everything would have gone according to plan!” (Ryudou)
Ryudou was a person who wouldn’t be satisfied if things didn’t go his way. It seemed that people like this really did exist everywhere. In this world, things would rarely go as planned. Once people like this collided with the wall that was irrationality and absurdity, there were some who would be crushed by the setback.

There were people who wouldn’t let the adversity get the best of them and would try to overcome it by cheering themselves up. Life was just like that. We regret the mistakes we’ve made and reflect on them so we don’t make the same mistakes again as we move forward step by step.

That was what life was all about.

“Do you think you’re God or something? Don’t think that anyone and everyone is something that should lie in the palm of your hands.” (Komon)
“Shut up! …Whatever. Even if you have a money-grubbing mercenary like her by your side, it doesn’t change the fact that your friends have betrayed you. So what will you do, Kuzuhara? Is it okay for you not to set him free?!” (Ryudou)
Ryudou was still trying to use Chake to threaten him.

“Tch…!” (Kuzuhara)
But even still, Kuzuhara might have no choice. The freedom of his one and only partner was at stake here. Even if he were to obediently comply with his proposal, there was no guarantee that Ryudou would actually keep his word.

But there was no way that the compassionate Kuzuhara would make the decision to abandon him here. Seeing Kuzuhara’s appearance, I let out a sigh.

How could he be so sympathetic for some other person who wasn’t even related to him? I didn’t understand why he would put his own life on the line to protect someone else.

In the end, people would always betray you. Trusting people was pointless, and concepts like friendship and love were awfully flimsy. How in the world could he trust in something like that…?

“….Sigh. Kuzuhara-san, what did you say was your objective again?” (Komon)
“K-Komon…?” (Kuzuhara)
“To win the match against Ryudou. That was what you wanted, wasn’t it?” (Komon)
“But… that…” (Kuzuhara)
He still looked really indecisive. Once things were like this, there wasn’t much that could be done. In the end, it seemed that I could only continue to move as planned. But at that moment, Chake, who had been keeping quiet, stepped forward and began to speak.

“Saito-san…. I’m really sorry.” (Chake)
“Chake….” (Kuzuhara)
“I… I betrayed you. Hahah…. I’m really so pathetic. Until now, I’ve had so much to thank you for, but I just went and turned on you so easily… I’m no man at all.” (Chake)
Tears flowed down Chake’s face and fell down in drops, soaking the ground.

“….If you become Ryudou’s slave or get killed here, there’s no way… I’ll be able to live on.” (Chake)
“…Chake…” (Kuzuhara)
“…That’s right. I… never repaid you for anything you did for me! Even though you saved me a long, long time ago!” (Chake)
“Chake, what are you saying all of a sudden…” (Kuzuhara)
“That’s why…!” (Chake)
“…?!” (Kuzuhara)
“That’s why… I’m not going to drag you down any longer… Sorry about this.” (Chake)
“Chake…?” (Kuzuhara)
With a tearful smile on his face, Chake began to run towards the black ogre of all things.

“W-Wait, Chake!” (Kuzuhara)
“Saito-san! I’m your… I’m your partner after all! That’s why this is all I can do for you right now!” (Chake)
Chake wove through the zombies and arrived in front of the black ogre, swinging his fist towards it. However, the attack of a puny human wouldn’t have any effect on it.

The black ogre grabbed Chake with its right hand. And then, Chake was enveloped in black flames.

“…Saito-san…” (Chake)
“Chakeeeeeeeee!” (Kuzuhara)
Kuzuhara immediately rushed forward to try and save him, but…

“Please… win it for me…” (Chake)
The black flames mercilessly swallowed up Chake’s body, vaporizing it instantly. Not even bones remained.

(TL: Title of the chapter is “Death by Black Flames”. Decided to redact it due to spoilers.)