Chapter 58
In the end, after dutifully shuttling back and forth between the train and the liquor store twice, I finally managed to sweep up all the alcohol the two Constellations had demanded.
Just in case, I told the kids to be careful.
Because they absolutely couldn't accidentally drink any of it.
I took out the old book I had just gotten from the counter and appraised it, leaving the wall packed solid with liquor behind me.
[Language of Other Races (1)]
- When used, you gain level 1 Elf and Dwarf language skills.
"A set..."
Whether it was fate or a gift from a Constellation, it just so happened to be a book that could give me the Elf language skill.
And since it said (1), maybe there are other parts too.
The usage was very straightforward.
When I opened the first page, the book turned into light and scattered, seeping into me.
Then unfamiliar knowledge seeped into my mind.
Since it was level 1, only basic conversational knowledge like simple greetings and likes and dislikes was imprinted in my head.
"Uh, ah, uh."
I understood it in my head, but I couldn't pronounce it properly.
Only a voice that made me sound like someone with a headache burst out of my mouth.
I figured I'd need to practice the pronunciation a bit.
If I practiced, would I become the first person ever able to talk with an elf?
I calmed myself down and returned to the cab of Car 1.
'Let's check the camera first.'
I turned on the monitor and aimed the reconnaissance drone's view at the elf.
On the screen, the elf was happily skipping lightly from rooftop to rooftop.
Looking more closely, she was gathering usable branches and oddly shaped fruit from the huge green trees growing up through the rooftops.
'Now that I think about it, those fruits look pretty unusual.'
If I wasn't mistaken, they were probably fruits that hadn't originally existed on Earth.
When I was fleeing from the monsters earlier, I hadn't had time to look around, but the trees that had burst out during the dungeon break had sparse fruit hanging from them here and there.
'If the elf is taking such care to gather them, maybe they're edible?'
After confirming that the elf was safely going about her business, I turned the camera toward the 9 survivors.
This side seemed busy in its own way too.
As soon as the screen came on, it looked like they had just finished a fierce battle with monsters, and the 9 survivors were catching their ragged breaths while slumping onto the floor.
Monster corpses were strewn all around them.
After taking a brief breather, they promptly picked up their weapons and started busily clearing the area inside and outside the building.
The place they had made their base was none other than a large bank building on the corner of an intersection.
"...The location looks decent."
Being on the corner of an intersection meant the sightlines were relatively open, and since it was a large bank, the building itself seemed designed with security in mind.
It had thick glass and sturdy double steel shutters, and I could even see fire doors inside the shutters.
It was spacious enough to look like a good place for several people to live.
On top of that, there were plenty of separate rooms inside, like consultation rooms and lounges, which would be useful for storing things or dividing up space for sleeping.
Luckily, both the elf and the 9 survivors seemed to be safely carrying on with their own efforts to survive.
But before long, the people who had roughly cleaned the bank and sat down in a circle on the floor all seemed to agree on something and pulled smartphones from their pockets, starting to hammer away at them.
"Huh? Did they suddenly post something on the gallery?"
And they were on their smartphones as soon as they caught their breath.
Curious about what they were doing, I accessed the Survivor Gallery myself.
The moment I opened the gallery, there was already a post at the very top of the board.
A post whose title made it obvious it had been written by the nine over there.
---
[Title : Recruiting Members for a New Safe Zone, Elf Present]
Elf within a 2 km radius.
Magical girl present (might be male).
Watched the dungeon break live.
There are plenty of monsters nearby, at least low-rank ones.
A safe zone made up entirely of gallery users who are on the gallery for 9 hours or more a day.
The base is a bank, so you can experience what it feels like to be a bank robber.
Please show it some love.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ : ? The only perk is an elf, and even that's 2 km away, lol
생갤러12 : How are all the safe-zone members gallery users, lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : If you go in there and post, doesn't that basically guarantee 9 upvotes?
부산남자 : If it were closer, I'd have gone.
---
...
As soon as they'd cleared out the bank a bit, they were already posting a safe-zone recruitment ad in the gallery.
Of course, with only 9 people, the safe zone might be a little shaky, so promoting it was probably only natural...
"They're quick on the draw..."
I closed the window with the promo post and decided to head to the bank where the nine were.
To be exact, they were the ones who contacted me first through a gallery message.
While I was reading the gallery post and chuckling under my breath, a notification rang.
It was a request to take them to a specific place so they could obtain a few items needed to build the safe zone.
In exchange, they promised to give me all the mana stones and monster byproducts they obtained while cleaning up the safe zone.
For me, it wasn't a difficult favor compared to the reward, so I accepted.
Besides, I was also curious to see how they would join forces to build the safe zone.
***
I stopped the train on a track as close to the bank as possible and got off.
"They really cleaned it up nicely."
Although the bank was a little far from the tracks, we didn't run into any monsters on the way there.
They must have been working hard on the cleanup.
When I stood in front of the bank and carefully knocked, the shutter rose as if they'd been waiting, and two people came out from inside carrying a large bag and a cart-like hand truck.
"You're here. We've been waiting."
"Something..."
"Huh?"
Since the cleaning inside the bank and the nearby area still wasn't finished, they apparently couldn't spare the manpower, so only two people were going to take the train.
A tall tattooed woman and a comparatively tall, sturdy man.
Seeing those two come out dragging a huge bag and a cart-like hand truck, they looked just like people who had just walked out after robbing a bank.
We headed straight to the train.
But the atmosphere between the two people on the train was extremely odd.
I could understand them sitting far apart because they weren't close, but the man was clearly watching the woman's every move.
The moment the tattooed woman casually raised her hand to brush back her tousled hair, the man sitting on the sofa about two seats away jerked his neck in like a turtle.
'What on earth happened?'
Did they see something while dealing with the monsters?
"You said you wanted us to take you to a large mart nearby, right?"
"Yes."
The man nodded when I asked about the request again.
A large mart, huh.
I tilted my head.
"Most of the worthwhile stuff must have been looted already by now..."
The man shook his head at my words.
"What we're after are items people were relatively unlikely to have taken."
"For example?"
"Bedding like bed sheets, blankets, and pillows, plus glue, tape... we're planning to gather a bunch of long hoses."
I could understand blankets and tape, since they'd be used for sleeping or for barricade work, but hoses?
"What are you going to use the hoses for?"
At my question, the tattooed woman casually spread her palm open.
Then, even though we were indoors, a breeze blew.
My bangs lifted for a moment.
The wind was flowing along her fingertips.
The man added an explanation while looking at her.
"If we connect a long hose and use this wind, we could easily draw water from something like a distant water tank into the bank, and I think we could use it in all sorts of ways..."
"Ah."
While we were talking, the train reached a stretch of track where the large mart came into full view.
From afar, the mart entrance looked like a textbook case of being completely looted, with shattered glass and carts scattered everywhere.
"We've arrived. The entrance doesn't look too good—"
That was the exact moment I was looking at the mart through the window and about to open the door to Car 3.
"Wait a minute."
At my cold voice, the movements of the two people who had been about to stand up froze.
I narrowed my eyes and looked toward the mart in the distance.
Then something that looked like a silhouette slipped past.
"...There's someone there."
There wasn't just one or two.
There were silhouettes of what looked like more than five people on the first floor of the mart alone.
I had thought it would just be looted, but I never expected it to be occupied outright.
I went to the cab, switched the train's camera feed, and zoomed in.
The people, each holding crude weapons that looked like they were made from steel pipes and beast bones, came into clear view.
They were even wearing robes, which made the atmosphere even stranger.
"..."
When I relayed the news, the tattooed woman gripped the handle of her machete.
The man looked like he was lost in thought.
"...Couldn't we persuade them by talking?"
Their appearance—wielding crude weapons made from bone and draped in those strange rag-like robes—was extremely unsettling, but we could at least try talking first.
We were a little outnumbered, but if a fight broke out, our gear and firepower looked superior.
In the end, we decided to at least try talking.
Still, they were human too, so I figured they wouldn't suddenly attack us without warning.
Just in case, we prepared thoroughly and approached them with the golem and drone in tow.
Then one man in a robe looked at me and greeted me with a friendly smile.
"Oh, hey... nice to meet you."
A man wearing glasses stepped out, still in the robe.
What on earth were that robe and that bone-made club supposed to be?
Had they all gotten matching gear or something?
"Did you come because you needed something from the mart?"
"Yes."
He asked as if he already knew the answer.
Come to think of it, survivors coming to a large mart would naturally be here because they needed something.
"We need bedding and things like tape. If you need anything, could we trade for it?"
"Haha, luckily those are things we have left over, so I think I can just give them to you."
That was good news.
But then the man looked at the three of us and said,
"You all have such pleasant faces."
The words 'You have such a terrible face' rose all the way to my chin, but I swallowed them and answered with a forced smile.
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
At my answer, the man flashed his eyes strangely and then got to the point.
"By any chance, would you be interested in talking about the great Cult Leader Kim O-son, who came to this land to save this ruined world?"
"..."
The three of us stared blankly at the man.
Oh, so that was it.
Just by looking, he gave off the unmistakable vibe of a filthy cult fanatic.
I replied firmly without the slightest hesitation.
"No."
Suddenly, it felt like the air had changed.
notes":"Kept the gender-ambiguous line neutral as 'might be male.'"}]}]} }]} 】}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}
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