24th Day Morning Cave
In the end, no customers showed up. Well, they can stay away for the rest of my life for all I care. I never invited them anyway.
It is just a roadblock.
Like a scarecrow.
Being here is enough.
Doing what needs to be done is enough.
I hate it, but they probably hate it too.
They are the worst annoying guy, but I am the greatest master of annoying harassment. I have confidence in that. The class rep and the others gave me their seal of approval.
Their side is just the worst by existing. My side is on purpose. I am a specialist at making things the worst. That also comes with the class rep and the others' guarantee. It is questionable which one of us is the real villain.
Time is on my side, and the longer it drags on, the worse it gets for them.
Still, the fact that they have not come yet means they are probably watching from somewhere, gathering information, or their calculations are not finished. If that is the case, I will get stronger in the meantime. It might not mean anything, but it might create some meaning. It is better than doing nothing. Even if it is completely meaningless, or probably meaningless, or nine times out of ten meaningless, there are no downsides. Even a tiny increase is meaningful. Anyway, we do not mesh at all.
Time to eat the morning fish and head out. Grilled fish with bread does not sound great, but there is no rice. I wonder what foreigners do?
If the older sister at the general store finds some rice, everyone will probably be thrilled.
Today is another day of mushroom hunting. Goblins and kobolds are free for the taking.
Well, Lv 20 is impossible, and Lv 15 is probably not happening either. They will not let me get that far, so they will only watch up to Lv 14. Once I reach that, they will show up.
That said, I am only at Lv 11 now. There is no time to get there.
They can probably wait even if my level-ups are slow, but in the meantime the class rep and the others will keep raising their levels fast. The otaku bunch will be powering up like crazy. What if the otaku keep raising their levels? Even the muscle-brained idiots can probably manage something if they go to the class rep. They can take my place and get yelled at every single day. Come on, if you wait too long you will get stuck.
The otaku have probably reached a safe level by now, right? Since we do not know the opponent's level, the only thing to do is create a gap. Even if we leave them alone, they will ignore the mood and become the strongest on their own.
As long as there is no interference. As long as interference is not allowed. Just interfere with the interference. Exactly like I am doing right now. While we keep interfering with each other, everyone else will leave us behind.
If I take the sacrifice stone, my hands slow down. If I do not take it, I get stabbed. That is annoying. We went to the trouble of splitting up.
They set up a position. If I pass through, I get hit. If I do not pass through, I will not make it in time. That is a pain. We went to the trouble of isolating ourselves.
It was bad luck that I settled in that cave. My LuK stat is not high enough.
It was good luck that I reached that cave and settled in. My LuK is the strongest. I have god-tier luck.
Whether it is good luck or bad luck, we had no choice but to meet here. The probability is the worst, but luck alone is the strongest.
It will probably continue to the end exactly as it was decided from the start.
Just as expected, just as planned, the worst outcome is mutual.
My side is in hopeless danger for our lives. Their side is in hopeless danger for their fate.
They went to the trouble of splitting us with mental manipulation.
The class rep and the others have already started gathering.
A loner cannot split, right?
That is why they are watching. They do not need levels anymore to kill me, do they?
But they will fall behind the other classmates in level difference. They are panicking, but they lack a decisive move.
Man, they must be so frustrated. It must be so irritating. It must be so annoying. This feels really good. What a wonderful mood.
Today I just wander around and walk. If I meet something I hunt it, but otherwise I just walk.
Running starts after lunch. For now I walk, checking things as I go, testing as I go.
The upstream side really has a lot of weak enemies. It would have been perfect for leveling up. At this rate I might have reached Lv 30 or even 40. Well, worrying about it now will not change anything. Walk, hunt, walk again.
I eat while walking. Dried meat is fine for a long time, but it does not taste good.
All right, is it about time to stop walking? Should I start running?
I run freely through the forest while hunting. In the end I return to the same spot. I hunt because I cannot win in a straight fight.
Since I lack power, I rely on speed. If the distance is far, I charge in. If there is distance, I launch a surprise attack. When there is no distance, I have learned to mix truth and lies. Well, what I am doing is the same as always. From the start to the end I have only done this.
It has been almost a month of dealing with the goblins. It looks like friendship is not going to bloom. Normally, the first enemy you fight becomes a rival or ally-like position and shows up to help, right? Well, since I have been massacring them the whole time, if one showed up I would probably need an exorcism.
Yeah, that is right. In a normal story it would be about taming goblins and kobolds while fighting through the forest. That is the standard development. But they are not here. Why? Because I massacred all the monsters!? At this rate it is on the same level as "Kobo, are you going to bite my head off?" In the end, instead of becoming a Fluffy Master I am turning into a Bitch Master? How did it come to this?
Anyway, all I have to do is hunt them. That way they cannot raise their levels, and I might luckily raise mine.
They get information. I get experience points. Even if they raise their levels it does not bother me. Even if they watch me it does not matter.
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I relax my body, lean forward as if falling, drop to my knees, and while relaxing I take half a step. The moment the step finishes is the moment I swing through. Gravity, acceleration, magic power, and breathing all come together in one swing. If I cannot put them on it, my head gets bitten. Absolutely not!
Yeah, I can handle the kobold king too. It is really fast, but I can handle it. That is because it always goes for the head bite. I will absolutely not let it bite my head! Absolutely!
It is so fast I can see afterimages now? It even uses up-down-left-right combinations, but in the end it is still the head bite...
My body is unharmed, but I took psychological damage.
Yeah, if a kobold emperor shows up it will be impossible. It is also bad to go any farther from the cave. I will take a long way around to get back.
But they still have not come? I do not know. Even if it becomes too late? They are underestimating the otaku's lack of reading the room, the muscle-brained idiots' true stupidity, and the girls' terrifying lecturing power. By now they have probably started gathering again even though they went to the trouble of splitting up. The planned heroes and champions of this world. To a place where we side characters cannot catch up...
Maybe they have misunderstood?