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

Chapter 91 – Pressing Torimoto

“Torimoto-kun, may I have a word with you?” (Jouichirou)
“Yes, of course.” (Torimoto)
Perfect. I wanted to talk to him, too.

I let him into my room and made him a cup of [Aurora Tea], which I had given him before, and we sat down at the table.

“Weren’t you supposed to be at the hospital today?” (Torimoto)
“There was someone I had to meet during the day. I’m on the night shift today.” (Jouichirou)
“I see.” (Torimoto)
I had assumed he was working at the hospital since he had left in the morning, but it seemed that he had been meeting with someone instead.

It’s almost evening… I wonder what his reason for visiting is.

“Actually, I wanted to discuss something with you.” (Jouichirou)
“Discuss, is it…?” (Torimoto)
“Yes. Actually, there’s a school in the city called Ohsaka High School.” (Jouichirou)
“…! Yes.” (Torimoto)
“The other day, they found something strange there.” (Jouichirou)
“Strange…?” (Torimoto)
“How should I say this… To put it simply, there were decayed bodies. A lot of them, too.” (Jouichirou)
“…Hm.” (Torimoto)
Come to think of it, we cleared the dungeonized school, but the zombified corpses didn’t disappear like monsters did, so they were still there.

“It was a dungeon until not long ago. Just the other day, there were no signs of monsters or anything, so they sent some people in to investigate, and what they found were…” (Jouichirou)
“A bunch of decomposing corpses, right?” (Torimoto)
“That’s right. The police had been there before to rescue students and teachers, but they said they hadn’t seen any decomposed bodies.” (Jouichirou)
“….Then could they belong to the students that were left behind?” (Torimoto)
“No, all of the corpses were adults. There were too many for them to be teachers.” (Jouichirou)
I see. It seems they had done autopsies on the corpses.

“Then perhaps some fools broke in and met an unfortunate end, or something like that.” (Torimoto)
“We can’t rule out that possibility, but even if that’s the case, there’s just too many of them. There’s no sign of them being eaten by the monsters that used to inhabit the dungeon, and it seems as if the corpses suddenly appeared there.” (Jouichirou)
He had a good intuition. It was true that the zombies appeared only several hours ago, so it may not be appropriate to call them fresh, but the idea that they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere wasn’t wrong.

“There are a lot of mysteries related to the dungeons. Isn’t it possible that something incomprehensible happened in that dungeon?” (Torimoto)
“Right. That’s certainly a possibility. However… a certain person was sighted in that place.” (Jouichirou)
“A certain person?” (Torimoto)
“That hakama-wearing woman with a katana who has recently become a hot topic around these parts.” (Jouichirou)
“….Hoh.” (Torimoto)
Jouichirou stared into my eyes, giving off the impression that he was trying to probe me.

Ah, I see.

“Fukuzawa-sensei. If there’s something you want to say, please feel free to speak your mind.” (Torimoto)
“…I won’t beat around the bush then. Are you involved with this woman?” (Jouichirou)
“…Yes, I am.” (Torimoto)
In fact, Kuzuhara and Ryudou had both been aware of this fact, and I hadn’t tried to hide the connection either. There were times where both Torimoto and Komon were present because of the [Copy Doll]. There definitely should have been people who saw that. I was the one who made sure of that.

“…! Who is that woman exactly…?” (Jouichirou)
“What do you mean by that?” (Torimoto)
“She brought the dungonized Ohsaka High School back to normal. Am I wrong?” (Jouichirou)
“That’s her job after all.” (Torimoto)
“It was a dungeon that was beyond even the police’s capacity, wasn’t it? That…” (Jouichirou)
“What if she had others with her?” (Torimoto)
“I certainly heard rumors that there were others by her side. And it was just a few people. It’s hard to believe that just a few people could defeat such tyrannical monsters.” (Jouichirou)
“If I recall correctly, that organization called the Apostles of Peace also clears dungeons, don’t they?” (Torimoto)
“But that’s an organization. An military group on the scale of tens, even hundreds of people. And every one of them is armed with powerful weapons. But that woman in the hakama only has a single katana, right?” (Jouichirou)
“…What are you trying to say?” (Torimoto)
“Is she really human?” (Jouichirou)
“At the very least, that’s how she looks to me.” (Torimoto)
“There’s information out there saying she was controlling monsters.” (Jouichirou)
…So that’s what it is. That was why Jouichirou reached the conclusion that Komon wasn’t human.

Monsters were now the natural enemy of humans. They were existences that should be exterminated. If someone was seen using them, it would be hard to believe that they were really human.

“Are you certain about that information?” (Torimoto)
“In fact, there were some people brought to the hospital who had met her and said that they even fought bravely against her.” (Jouichirou)
….Hm. No one who would say something like that is really coming to mind… Ah, right. There were those guys.

People who knew of my… or rather, Komon’s abilities and would even say that they fought like courageous warriors against her.

The ones who came to mind were Takasu and Tengawa, who were once my former classmates from Ohsaka High School and previously Ryudou’s pawns. This information must have come from them. They were the only ones who hadn’t died there and could have easily given out information about Komon. They were surely rushed to the hospital because I was the one who had given them serious injuries.

“They said that the woman in the hakama was a vicious being who used monsters to kill humans. They said that she was responsible for their injuries and that she had killed several of their comrades. They also said that she was controlling those decomposed corpses as zombies.” (Jouichirou)
Those damn bastards twisted the information to make things more convenient for themselves. Maybe I should have killed them after all.

I hadn’t killed any humans yet, so I spared their lives.

Well, I thought it would have been fine if I left them alone and let the monsters roaming around eat them, but I guess that didn’t work out.

“Are you sure their words were correct?” (Torimoto)
“No. I’m not going to believe only one side of the story. Which is why I’m here to ask you about it.” (Jouichirou)
“What would you do if she was really a dangerous existence?” (Torimoto)
“I’d naturally like to say that I would tell the police, but… I know that’s impossible under the current circumstances. So I would at least ask you to cut off your connections with her.” (Jouichirou)
“…….” (Torimoto)
“I still can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me. So I don’t want you to be around people who could endanger your life.” (Jouichirou)
I see. It seems that he was discussing this with me out of consideration for me.

“It’s fine. She—Komon Shiina, is someone who is greedy for money, but she would never kill a person without question. She’s a genuine human being.” (Torimoto)
“Is that true?” (Jouichirou)
“Yes. I have some family connections with her. The Komon clan is made of a group of nonconformists with somewhat unusual powers.” (Torimoto)
“Like your clan…?” (Jouichirou)
“Yes. I can’t speak about the particulars because that’s information private to her. However, I can assure you that she doesn’t have the power to control zombies.” (Torimoto)
“….But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the power to control monsters, right?” (Jouichirou)
As for that question, I exercised my right to remain silent. I could have said something else, but I decided to leave it to his imagination.

“…Fine. I believe you.” (Jouichirou)
“Are you sure?” (Torimoto)
“Honestly, I have to admit that none of the rumors about that woman in the hakama are very credible. There are also people who said that she saved their lives. So in the end, the one I’ll believe is you, my benefactor.” (Jouichirou)
“I might be lying, you know?” (Torimoto)
“Even if you were, it wouldn’t be a harmful lie just to hurt people, no? In the time that we’ve known each other, albeit quite short, I’ve come to understand a little bit about what kind of person you are.” (Jouichirou)
Jouichirou was really a great person, to the point that I couldn’t find any faults with him. He would even allow Torimoto, a person that was suspicious to the extreme, to rent a room in his house.

He was indeed a person of great character who could be called the incarnation of Redbeard-sensei. I didn’t know anyone who could beat him when it came to life experience. The way he lived was something that I could never emulate.

“…Thank you for believing in me. Also, I don’t know if I should even bring this up with the current flow of this conversation.” (Torimoto)
“There’s something you want to discuss with me, too?” (Jouichirou)
“…Actually, I was thinking it was about time for me to resume my journey once more.” (Torimoto)