Chapter 35
The morning sun streamed in, and I woke up.
"Yaaawn... It's morning already...?"
I had slept soundly.
I really was tired...
As I thought yesterday, I desperately want a 'Fatigue Resistance' Skill.
Could I acquire it by exhausting myself to my limit? Not that I want to.
Looking at the clock, I saw that it was six in the morning.
Maybe because of my old routine, I just couldn't help waking up at this hour.
I wonder whether waking up feeling more refreshed than before is a good thing or a bad thing...
"Woof!"
Momo was already awake.
Up early as always, huh?
"Good morning, Momo."
I enjoyed Momo's soft fur as I petted it to start the morning.
Momo rubbed against me, too. Ha-ha, you little rascal.
Yep, I was wide awake now.
"Huh...? Momo, haven't you gotten a little bigger?"
"Whuf?"
Momo tilted its head, but there was no mistaking it.
It was just a little bigger than yesterday.
When I tried picking it up in both arms, it felt a little heavier.
"Why all of a sudden...? Could it be because of the magic stones?"
Or maybe it was because its Level had gone up.
But there hadn't been any change yesterday, had there?
Maybe its Level had been too low, or it hadn't eaten enough magic stones?
That would explain it, but...
"Momo, do you feel anything strange? Are you in pain or anything like that?"
"Whiiine?"
Momo seemed to be saying that it was perfectly fine.
If anything, it ran around me in circles as if it had energy to spare.
So... no problem?
If nothing was wrong, I supposed it was fine.
"All right. But if you feel anything strange, tell me right away, okay? Understand?"
"Woof!"
Momo answered cheerfully.
"All right, then. Time for breakfast."
I took some food out of the Item Box and had a quick breakfast.
Thanks to the 'Preservation Function' being added, the food would no longer spoil.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but I was able to savor it more than yesterday.
After that, I washed my face and wiped my body down.
If I had my way, I'd take a bath. I worked up quite a sweat.
But I couldn't use hot water, so that was impossible.
This house seemed to be all-electric, too.
That's no good. A house should have at least one thing that uses gas.
Since I had no choice, I boiled water on a portable burner, diluted it with cold water until it was lukewarm, and used it.
While I was at it, I gave Momo a quick wash, too. Since it didn't resist, that made things easy.
"Speaking of which, why is it only the electricity that doesn't work...?"
The water and gas were still working, but the electricity had been completely unusable from the very beginning.
Well, small appliances that ran on batteries still worked, but everything else was completely useless.
I hadn't tried an emergency generator yet, though. It would be noisy, so it would probably attract monsters.
Did the power plant happen to get knocked out on the first day?
Or was there some other 'reason'...?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't find an answer.
There was no way I could go all the way to a power plant just to check. It was too far away.
"I wonder if the electricity is still working in the next town over?"
I couldn't check that without going there, either.
It would be nice if I could use the news or the Internet...
Oh, right—the radio.
I had a radio!
I was sure I had one with me.
Why didn't I think of that sooner? What an idiot I was.
I took a radio out of the Item Box and turned it on.
"No good..."
No matter what channel I tuned in to, I couldn't even pick up static.
Could the 'radio waves' have gone out, too?
What was going on?
"This is no good. I have far too little information..."
Should I join up with another group after all?
No, that would be bad in its own way, too...
"I guess I'll have to eavesdrop again, like yesterday..."
That seemed like the best option.
Then I should head to the home improvement store after all.
...No, there's somewhere I should go first.
I'll head there.
"All right, Momo. Shall we get going?"
"Woof!"
After getting ready, we went outside.
If I remembered correctly, it should be a short walk from here.
And a few minutes later―――.
"Oh, there it is!"
I found the place I was looking for.
A sign marked 'Under Construction.'
Abandoned heavy machinery. A building under construction, with steel frames piled up.
That's right, I'd come to a construction site.
The site of a planned new apartment building.
This wasn't a home improvement store, but it was packed with things that could serve as weapons.
Piles of earth and sand, steel pipes, chunks of block, concrete, and heavy machinery.
All of it should be perfectly suited to the Item Box.
"There don't seem to be any monsters nearby, so let's collect it all quickly."
"Woof."
A few minutes later―――.
The Item Box, now at LV 10, effortlessly stored all the construction materials as well.
I also tried out a new way to use the Item Box. That worked, too.
Satisfied with the haul, Momo and I left the construction site.
"Well, shall we head to the home improvement store next?"
We set off again.
There were fewer monsters than yesterday...
'Enemy Search' detected nothing.
The only presence I could sense was that of people hiding in their homes.
Could yesterday's howl have caused everyone around here to gather in one place?
They might have moved somewhere else, though.
It would be one thing if only the strong monsters had disappeared, but even weak monsters weren't showing up, which was a problem.
I couldn't gain any experience points.
A manageable goblin would be nice...
I was just a few minutes from the home improvement store.
That's when I spotted something strange.
"Huh?"
A dumbfounded sound escaped me.
I found myself staring at 'it.'
"Seriously...?"
Something like that definitely hadn't been there yesterday.
The intersection ahead.
I stared at 'it,' sitting in the middle.
It was a wooden box.
It was lavishly decorated, with what looked like a keyhole in the center.
By now, you can probably guess what it was.
A video game staple.
Something everyone has probably seen in a game at least once.
"It's a treasure chest, right...?"
That's right. What sat there was, unmistakably, a 'treasure chest.'
Seriously? So this world allows things like that, too...?