Monster Village

The next day. As the sun rose and the surroundings brightened, we immediately started moving. I nibbled on the last ration of portable food we received initially. While munching, I thought about wanting to eat eggs once we meet up with others.

"This marks the end of the seven portable rations. It's a good thing we got extras from Nishina and the others."

"Yeah... It would be great if we could meet those people who were making that smoke today."

"Yeah. But, well, we don't know if they have extra supplies, and we might end up eating the reserves."

"Haha, true."

The next location with the smoke from yesterday would likely have people. We quickly prepared to depart, but we had to be cautious, as monsters could be on the way.

I put on the Gilly suit vest that Kimishima made for me every morning before setting out.

Now, from the top of the hill, the smoke was no longer visible, but I remembered the direction. If we followed this path, we should have arrived without issues. The distance was uncertain, but it seemed quite far, with remnants of a town along the way.

We treaded carefully on the cracked road, avoiding stumbling. The downhill path sped up naturally after a while.

While walking, there was something I couldn't help but be conscious of...

Kimishima's ranking. I wondered how far her ranking had climbed. However, it was scary to ask. I reached the 3rd step up the Ladder and around rank 5 million, and Kimishima had climbed to 1.5 million when she went up one step. Probably, this time, the digits would drop by one. Kimishima didn't mention it, perhaps expecting my mood to sour.

...

... Maybe I should have been the adult and asked her about it.

"Ah, oh... Kimishima?"

"Yes? What was wrong?"

"How do you feel after climbing the Ladder? Did you feel any different?"

"Well... yesterday's uphill climb felt completely effortless. It seemed like various things have changed."

"Really..."

"Yes..."

"..."

"..."

"... About the ranking... what happened?"

"... Ranking? You mean?"

"Yeah, seeing a young person climb rapidly was enjoyable."

"Eh~. Please don't talk like an old man."

"Huh? Well, to you guys, I must seem like an old man, right?"

"...That's not true."

“Oh, really?”

"Yes, you’re not an old man."

"Huh? What...?"

"Around 300,000...”

"Hmm? Ah, ah. It's great that the possibilities are expanding!"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Oh, yeah..."

Well, I guess so. Among the school staff, I was relatively young. There were teachers in their 20s, and in the staff room, I belonged to that group. Yeah, in this world, I've received gifts to some extent. I should stop treating myself as old.

Soon, the walls came into view. They were not very high, similar to the ones around the farm. As we approached, we saw that these walls had suffered significant damage.

"It didn't seem like a town with people."

"Yeah."

However, there was some presence from inside. While cautiously approaching through the forest on the side of the road, we witnessed an unusual scene.

Those creatures...

Resembling the boar monsters we saw in Galal Blue, but slightly sleeker. They seemed to be leading a life of some sort, utilizing abandoned buildings for their living. There seemed to be a considerable number. Kimishima and I, surprised, silently retreated, not wanting to be noticed by them.

"No good, let's detour."

"Yes..."

Monsters were living in groups. It was an indescribable fear. Until now, we had mainly dealt with solitary monsters or, at most, a group of wolf-like monsters hunting together, allowing us to recklessly go up the Ladder by targeting them.

With such a social group, it seemed impossible. If they found us, they would chase us in a group.

Maybe gathering in such large numbers indicated their strength was inferior compared to other monsters, but even so, their quantity was a threat.

We decided to take a slightly larger detour to avoid the town.

"Sensei..."

"... What was it?"

"Could the smoke from before … be related to those monsters we just saw?"

"... I don't know. They seemed to have intelligence, but whether they could produce fire..."

"I see."

"Still, don't give up hope."

"Yes..."

After seeing such a large group of monsters, our progress inevitably slowed down due to increased caution. Moreover, the fact that there might be people here, only to see a village of monsters, shook our confidence. The two of us walked silently, blending into the foliage.

The town didn't seem to be of a large scale, but from the outside, it looked like a combination of fields and a village, with the outer wall extending quite a distance. We cautiously advanced, with the wall barely visible through the gaps in the trees.

Rustle, rustle.

Just a little more, and it seemed we were approaching the end of the wall. At that moment, we saw two creatures, similar to the boar-faced ones from earlier, limping towards the village, covered in injuries.

Surprisingly, one of them was carrying a primitive axe-like weapon.

Weapons... it seemed like a tribe with some developed tools. Originally, this was a monster world, but maybe they were indigenous creatures. If so... arriving later and establishing our living area might make us enemies...

We watched them silently until they disappeared behind the wall and resumed walking.

"…Still, they were using tools, huh?"

"Yeah..."

...We had no choice but to move forward. Whether there were people ahead or not, the fact remained that if we continued on the road, we would eventually reach a settlement. Keeping the town at our backs, we advanced for a while.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

Wooooh!

Wooooh!

A drum-like sound and the roars of monsters echoed from within the town behind us.

“…W-what!?”

We hastily crouched down. Kimishima also created a tent of leaves, trying to hide us. Inside the town, the monsters became even more heated, roaring, and with the pounding sound like an earthquake, a group of over ten monsters rushed from the gate toward the direction we were heading.

Thud, thud, thud...

Perhaps the two from earlier had been attacked by other monsters. Like a group of frenzied madness, they ran, yelling something. Each of them held various weapons.

"Let's make sure not to get involved."

"Yes... ah, but... if the opponents in the fight are... humans?"

"... Well... that's true. But, we've come this far. Maybe the military or something is coming to hunt monsters."

"If that's the case... it's fine."

Damn it. I really didn't know.

What would happen ahead?

Still, despite being cautious not to be noticed by the monsters, we decided to move forward.

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