Ch.299Academy Festival (4)

Clang-! Clang-! Clang-!!

This time, the fight continued with a fair amount of back-and-forth. At this rate… could I actually win? Such expectations were sprouting vigorously.

Certainly, my skills had improved compared to before. Still, winning against Gonzaemon would be suspicious.

“You’ve improved quite a bit!! Just as I thought!! You have exceptional talent!!!”

The doppelganger shouted loudly.

“Look who’s talking now that you’re losing your composure!!”

I continued my series of attacks and suddenly delivered a powerful sword strike.

However, no matter what, I had underestimated the doppelganger too much.

Claaang-!

The doppelganger raised his sword and completely deflected my strike. With my attack completely blocked, my stance collapsed significantly.

“Ugh…!”

Claaang-!!!

The doppelganger struck my sword, sending it flying.

Whoosh-! Thud-!

The sword I lost fell straight to the ground. Once the sword was lost, the outcome of the match was obvious. It was my defeat.

“Ah… I lost.”

I sighed.

“Still, you’ve improved a lot. At this rate… you’ll be able to change the future of this world that’s destined to be invaded by Pink Beard.”

The doppelganger said while taking my hand.

Ding-!

The reward for the training match came immediately. My level suddenly reached 99. The maximum level. This meant I couldn’t get any stronger through leveling up anymore. From now on, I could only get stronger by accumulating real combat experience.

“Will you come tomorrow too?”

The doppelganger asked.

“Yeah. Of course.”

The game was gradually reaching its final stages. Mid-September would quickly pass with the school festival. Soon it would be October… and before I knew it, January would arrive with Pink Beard’s invasion. Time seemed both plentiful and scarce.

“Good. It gets quite boring just sitting around here. This was a nice change of pace.”

The doppelganger said as he sat down in the middle of the battlefield filled with corpses.

Anyway, I completed the daily dungeon.

——

Next, I headed to another weapon dungeon to obtain the next fragment of the holy sword.

‘Axe Dungeon’

Though it was called the Axe Dungeon, it included all blunt weapons as well. If I reached proficiency 1000 here, the next holy sword fragment would be released.

‘Let’s clear this quickly… and feed the remaining holy sword fragments to Pinocchio.’

I made that resolution.

I couldn’t help but wonder if Pinocchio Sword would get stronger if I fed it all the holy sword fragments.

Whoosh-!

I entered the dungeon.

———

Somehow… the setting had changed from fantasy-style.

Ruined buildings and a desertified landscape. The typical apocalyptic scenery.

Now I clearly understood what this meant. In my previous life, I must have lived like a mercenary, traveling between different worlds. This must be one of the worlds I visited.

‘Nuclear Apocalypse’

‘Eliminate all enemies.’

A very simple explanation appeared.

An old baseball bat and a rusty hand axe were stuck in the desert sand. I picked up both weapons.

‘The durability is… barely holding up.’

I roughly understood the dungeon system. It seemed I had to fight using weapons obtained on the spot.

“Hahaha!! We’ve got fresh meat here!!”

“Just in time, I was hungry!!”

“Aw, it’s a guy! I wanted a woman!!”

People with clearly post-apocalyptic fashion blocked my way. Right. They were raiders, commonly seen in apocalyptic settings.

It seemed that this time I would be killing humans, not monsters.

“………”

However, I felt no guilt.

Corpses that had been horribly murdered, skewered on spikes, were everywhere. I could immediately tell they had been tortured and played with before being killed. These guys did such things to people. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them monsters that had crossed the boundaries of humanity.

“Get him!!!”

The group of raiders immediately rushed toward me.

Whirrrrr-!!

The most threatening one was a guy running toward me with a chainsaw.

“Tazdingo!!!”

I immediately threw the hand axe. Originally, when throwing axes and such, chanting this spell somehow made them hit better. Kids, you should try it too!

Swoosh-!!

The hand axe, flying in a clean trajectory, smashed through the chainsaw man’s forehead and continued on.

Whoosh-!!

As the chainsaw man collapsed, I immediately closed the distance toward him, wielding the baseball bat.

Crack-!!

The baseball bat swept through the air, crushing the flesh and bones of the raiders in front.

“Guhak?!!”

With that, the raiders’ formation crumbled.

Whether it was a baseball bat or a sword, the principle was the same. There was no thrusting, just swinging to strike the enemy’s body.

And when there was a gap in timing, I could retrieve the hand axe embedded in the head. That was okay.

Crack-! Smash-!

I unilaterally dismembered and struck the group of raiders as I advanced.

“Th-this guy… he’s strong!!”

The raiders seemed intimidated by my fierce momentum.

Crack-!

At that moment, the blade of the hand axe shattered and scattered.

“Damn…”

That was the limit of rusty weapons.

Creak…

The baseball bat was also at its limit, all bent up.

“His weapons are broken!! Kill him!!”

The raiders seemed to sense their advantage from this and quickly closed the distance toward me.

“Die!!!”

One raider swung a baseball bat with nails embedded in it. A baseball bat with nails… is this the standard in apocalypses?

Crack-!

I timed it perfectly and delivered an uppercut, knocking the raider down.

Thud-!

And I immediately seized the nail-embedded baseball bat. This is what you call direct delivery.

“Hyaaa!!”

In this way, I obtained weapons on the spot and eliminated the raiders.

How much time had passed?

Even after enthusiastically massacring and raising my proficiency, it had only increased by about 100.

‘There’s no shortcut in this format…’

I sighed.

I miss it… Anakin!! I miss those days when I could just beat up Anakin and my proficiency would skyrocket!!

Anyway, having completed my tasks for the day, I left the dream dungeon.

———

The next day, I headed straight to school.

The school still didn’t feel like everyday life. Everyone was busy preparing for the exhibition. Regular classes were hardly being held.

“Our school… doesn’t have a sports festival. That’s why everyone seems to be focusing on this school festival.”

Eri said.

“Hmm… that’s right.”

But why isn’t there a sports festival? With a sports festival too, it would be a lethal dose of autumn youth.

“From what I found out, several students got scrub typhus last time. So it was canceled for safety reasons.”

Umi said.

“Ah… right. We need to be careful of ticks in autumn.”

If you’re unlucky, you’ll be rushed straight to the emergency room.

“Youth fever time, huh…”

I nodded.

Anyway, our class’s exhibition preparations were in the final stages. Kunami Corporation provided everything from food ingredients to other materials, so there were no initial costs. This is what you call backing.

“Sho-wang, where should I put this?”

“Is this menu enough? Sho-wang?”

The class kids had started calling me “Sho-wang” instead of “Shota.” It had become half a meme.

“Everyone, we need to fill out documents related to the cultural festival…”

At that moment, our homeroom teacher came in.

“Consult with Sho-wang. Sho-wang knows everything.”

The class president immediately tossed the agenda to me.

“………”

I had somehow become more powerful than the class president. Is this the power of being the financier…?

——–

“Shota!! I made a menu item!”

At that moment, Eri and Umi brought a chiffon cake.

Actually, even though they called it a chiffon cake… it was just a ready-made one. All they did was microwave the chiffon cake and then squeeze cream on top with a piping bag. Honestly, it’s hard to call it cooking.

“Try it!”

Eri and Umi exuded a strange pressure.

“Really… why do I have to do the hard cooking…”

Taiga grumbled as he skillfully started grilling takoyaki on a portable takoyaki maker. But… somehow it looked right. It was like a former delinquent with a complicated past running a street stall. Plus, he grilled them well. Taiga… has quite a lot of talent.

‘It was a bit of a struggle to persuade Taiga.’

I had given him priority seating rights for tonight’s bed. That’s why Taiga took charge of the takoyaki.

Anyway, I ate the chiffon cake made (?) by Eri and Umi.

“Yeah. It’s delicious.”

It was neither more nor less than just a ready-made cake. It tastes good if you don’t expect much. It passes for a student cultural festival. If I had expected taste, I would have gone to a restaurant. Let’s set the price at about 900 yen. It’s a cake made by pretty girls after all. There’s a premium.

“And… this is a service for special guests.”

Eri then mysteriously exposed her chest.

On Eri’s chocolate-flavored chest, a small dollop of cream was cutely placed.

“A chocolate cake just for Shota… what do you think?”

Eri smiled sweetly.

“Eri…!”

This would be a loss not to eat. I immediately buried my face in Eri’s chest and started licking.

“I-I’ve lost…”

Even the flirtatious Umi couldn’t come up with such a vulgar idea.

“Is it delicious?”

Eri smiled and hugged me tightly.

“It’s delicious… but you’re not offering this service to other customers, right?”

I immediately glared at Eri.

“No. This service is only for my husband.”

Eri smiled sweetly.

“Yes! Absolutely don’t do this to other men!!”

Eri wanted to monopolize me!

“Kyaa❤ Shota, you’re so intense!”

Eri giggled. She seemed quite happy to be monopolized by the man she loved.

At that moment, Kana approached.

“Shota. Let’s go help the kendo club now.”

Kana spoke with a slightly sullen expression. Even though she had entered the harem, she was still human and felt jealousy.

“Ah. Right.”

However, I knew how to coax Kana. I immediately slipped my hand under her skirt and patted Kana’s bottom.

“Kana, your butt is really pretty. Like a baby rabbit.”

I said to Kana.

“R-rabbit…”

Kana’s face turned bright red.

“But… has your butt gotten a bit bigger?”

I checked the state of Kana’s bottom as I spoke.

“Because you keep touching it so much…”

About to say those words, Kana’s face flushed crimson. Yes. Today too, Kana was adorable.

Anyway, Kana and I headed to the kendo club room.