Day 16- In front of the Cave

WE ATE AN EARLY BREAKFAST, double-checked everyone's bags, and

closed up the cave. I made a stone door with Earth Magic. It looked like the

kind of door that the Cave King would come out of if there was a big

banquet or something.

"All right," I said. "Shall we set off downriver? Are we off to find the

town? Off to hunt some nerds?"

"We're not hunting them!"

With that, we started to march along the riverbank. As expected,

there weren't any monsters near the river.

The Class Rep tugged at my shirt. "Haruka-kun, can I have a word

with you?"

"Sure. Do you want to talk while I scout ahead?"

We went ahead, ready to intercept approaching monsters. I didn't

skewer any of them, so I figured no one would get mad at me this time.

The Class Rep paused. "So…"

"Is it about the meatheads?"

"Uh, yeah. So, you met them, right?"

"Oh right, I forgot to mention. They said they're sorry."

"Huh? They apologized?" She looked flustered. "Look, um, I'm…so

sorry." She bowed forcefully. If she had been any closer she would've

knocked me over with her head.

"I've wanted to tell you for a while…but I couldn't bring myself to

do it. My skill…"

"Hey, don't worry about it!" I interrupted. "I know what it is."

Her jaw dropped. Um, it's pretty obvious, isn't it? Why so surprised?

"W-wait a second. Since when? How do you know?"

"Doesn't everyone know? Well, maybe not the meatheads or the

goblins. They're too stupid to figure it out."

Well, to be precise, the goblins might know but no one's asked. I

guess I'll keep it a secret for now.

"If it was a secret, you should've said so," I said. "We'd all be in

trouble if I accidentally talked about something that's supposed to be a

secret! Oh, but I didn't tell the meatheads, I promise—"

"But how did you know?! Nerd A promised me that he wouldn't tell

anyone!"

Hijack—the skill that let someone steal skills from others. It was

probably the strongest, most dangerous skill in the world. If you had it, it

was an unbeatable cheat code—and if you didn't, it was an unstoppable

menace. Someone with Hijack could steal any skills just by being near their

target. The skill-thief would get more dangerous with every skill they stole.

And in typical light novels and games, a skill like Hijack only worked if the

target was killed.

Someone targeted by Hijack didn't just risk losing their skill, they

risked losing their life. The existence of that skill threatened to turn any

interaction into a kill-or-be-killed survival game.

It was a taboo skill. You couldn't tell anyone you had it, and if you

did, they'd avoid you like the plague. Or maybe try to kill you.

"If you knew that I had this skill, why did you rescue me? Aren't you

worried? You should want to avoid me, despise me, or abandon me. I

mean…I steal other people's skills…"

"Huh? Why? Were the nerds scared of you? Why would I be scared?"

"B-but, I might steal your skills at any moment."

"Why would I worry about that?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry." The Class Rep looked away, down at the

ground.

In what world would anyone try to steal Loner, NEET, Shut-In,

Blockhead, Master of None, or Corporate Proactiveness? If you want them,

they're all yours!

If she did use Hijack on me, she'd only screw herself over.

Class Rep bit her lip. "Look, I feel terrible about having this skill.

But…what happens if the others find out?"

"The nerds weren't scared of you, right? That's what I'm saying!"

Why is she so upset? I thought. What's the issue?

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you get it? Everyone is relieved that you're the one who has

that skill!"

"Huh?!"

"Everyone was freaking out over who had Puppetry, Mesmerize, and

Hijack! After Puppetry and Mesmerize were sealed, everyone was relieved.

But no one's worried about sealing Hijack, right?"

"What are you saying?"

"Even the idiot meatheads were afraid of those skills; you think the

others weren't, too? But everybody thinks there's no problem anymore, so

there's no problem. I figured it out without the nerds telling me, so

everyone else has probably figured it out, too. No one's panicking, right?

So, what's the problem?"

I knew all along that the nerds didn't have Hijack. They were

surrounded by goblins when I ran into them, which meant that they didn't

have Presence Detection. Goblins had that skill, so someone with Hijack

would have naturally stolen it from them. That was proof enough that the

nerds didn't have it.

More importantly, the nerds weren't worried about it, even though

they knew all about how dangerous it was. If they were concerned, they

would have tried to figure out who got Hijack, or at least warned me about

it.

Yet, the nerds, who had been outrageously mistreated back in school,

trusted whoever had Hijack—which guaranteed that there was definitely

nothing to worry about!

That was a lifetime warranty for total peace of mind. Not just issued

by anyone—that was a Nerd-Approved Warranty. Stricter standards simply

did not exist.

"Class Rep, have you been crying a lot lately?"

"Crying? That's because of you!"

"I'm innocent! I didn't do anything!"

"That's not true. You've done so much. Thank you…"

Were we speaking the same language here? I made her cry and she's

thankful? What did I do?

Let's see…I haven't tried to hook up with her or anything. I didn't

have the guts to pull anything like that, but if I did, I'd totally deserve a title

like Hero for my recklessness. I couldn't imagine what would happen to me

if I did, though. Terrifying high school girl boss rush? I'd surrender before

the fighting even starts!

"B-but how did you convince those guys that everything was okay

without revealing my secret?"

"The idiots? I just told them that things are fine and they were like,

'cool story bro!' They're total idiots, y'know?"

"What do you mean, 'fine'?!"

"Well, it's not like I could've convinced them with logic…you know,

because they're morons?"

"That doesn't explain anything! You're acting like they're completely

brainless! You can be so casually cruel sometimes. This is important, so

please take it seriously!"

It looked like Class Rep had finally reached her wit's end.

"You told me to stop calling the nerds 'nerds,' but you just called one

of them 'Nerd A' a minute ago," I said.

"I did?! Agh, please forgive me, Oda-kun, I've been brainwashed!"

Hey, I deny all accusations of brainwashing! If I had that skill I'd be

doing a hell of a lot better.

"In order to use Hijack, I need to kill the target," the Class Rep said.

"Oda-kun warned me not to let anyone know about my skills."

"I get it, so you've been taking skills from the goblins and orcs we'd

fought this whole time." I nodded. All the loose ends are tied up.

"Wait a second," I gasped, "does that mean you got Super Horny and

Alpha Male?"

"Gaaaah! You can be such a jerk!"

In the middle of a primeval forest, Class Rep wailed inconsolably.

Did she just break? Where's the reset button? The other girls stormed out,

stood behind her, and volleyed insults and accusations at me. I didn't do

anything! I swear!

The girls got their fill of bullying when the sun reached its apex. Wait

a minute, it's lunch time! Another fish and mushroom barbecue! I put the

fish and mushrooms on skewers and roasted them. Every time I looked in

the Class Rep's direction, she just stared back at me with furious, halflidded eyes.

I flipped the skewers over and roasted them over an open flame. The

fiery glare of the Class Rep made me feel like I was the one being roasted.

I set a few skewers before her. She glared without pause.

This isn't a Glare of Eternal Friendship, is it?

"Class Rep, come on, time for lunch!"

She kept glaring at me. I had to say something to cheer her up.

"Uh, Class Rep. It's fine! There are worse skills out there. Like

Molester—aah!"

Class Rep yanked the ground out from between us with Ground

Shrink and slapped me. Ouch! That's so unfair…

What to do now? Setting the Class Rep's inexplicable mood aside, we

still hadn't made it to the edge of the forest. Even using Clairvoyance, I saw

nothing but trees in every direction. We were planning to head back in a

few hours if we didn't find anything by then. If there were plains

somewhere, we could've spotted towns or roads, but I couldn't sense

anything like that. I glanced around, only to meet the Class Rep's

judgmental gaze. We came to such a harmonious consensus about her

Hijack ability, but merely mentioning Alpha Male and Super Horny made

her turn on me! To understand each other through discussion would be

wonderful if it were possible, I thought, rubbing my cheek. She smacked me

so hard that I'm certain she could defeat an orc by herself.

"Hey Vice Rep A, should we get going?" I asked.

"Did you say Vice Rep A? That's not my name!"

"Uh, okay then. Vice Rep B, how about it?"

"Why would I answer to Vice Rep B?" She winked. "If you're trying

to guess my size, you're way off."

No kidding, B is way too small! I suddenly felt a wave of bloodlust

coming from the Class Rep. Her glare was veering toward murderous.

I wasn't looking! I wasn't even thinking about them! Not much,

anyway!

We walked for about an hour without seeing any way out of the

woods. If things kept going this poorly, we'd have to camp in the forest.

As it turned out, leaving the woods was more than a day trip. As far

as I was concerned, setting up camp tonight would be just as easy as

returning to the cave. I guess we'll decide by vote. Unfortunately, we

couldn't hold a vote because we couldn't start a meeting. And we couldn't

start a meeting because the Class Rep refused to do anything but glare at

me! I demand my right to vote. Just give me my fundamental human rights!

Eventually, an informal vote was taken, and most people voted to

head back to the cave.

We trudged back the way we came. We considered leveling up on the

way back, but that would have meant we probably wouldn't reach the cave

until late at night. There was a pretty big difference between deciding to

camp in the woods ahead of time and being forced to make camp at the last

minute.

I know that the person still glaring at me felt the same way. What's

wrong with her?

When we made it back, I pulled the stone door open, hiding my

frustration. I had worked so hard on this door, hoping that I wouldn't have

to use it so soon. Now, what to do for dinner? A home-cooked meal seemed

best, so I got started on herb-stuffed grilled fish. I also filled up the bath.

This would be everyone's last chance to bathe in comfort before we set out

tomorrow.

I used my Map skill and confirmed that the river wound a long,

snaking path to the right. Cutting across the deep forest would potentially

shorten our trip, but fighting all the tougher monsters would probably cost

us more time than we'd save.

I was concerned that we couldn't have a strategy meeting. I was way

too scared to ask anyone to attend, which was a bit of a problem. Of course,

the biggest problem was that our leader refused to say anything!

I escaped to my tent and decided to take a stroll through the forest.

There weren't any more meatheads, but there were plenty of normal

goblins. I was beyond exhausted. Still, I fought and killed a horde of

goblins. The slaughter was punctuated by goblin battle cries cut short by the

thwacking of a staff.

I worked through all my stress by massacring those goblins, and now,

beauteous sleep was calling me…but I sensed someone's presence in my

tent.

"I can sense a presence in my tent," I called out. "It's not idiots this

time. I'm gonna guess…somebody with angry eyes?"

"Guilty as charged," the Class Rep answered. "Sorry about today. I

was just embarrassed."

Class Rep, aka Miss Glare, bowed in apology. Targeting my

weakness! I can't help but forgive her when she leans forward and I get an

eyeful like that.

"Um, yeah. Keep working…hard?" I tried to encourage her.

"You're not great at cheering people up." She straightened back up.

"Are you upset?"

"I'm kidding." I paused. "Uh, so did you guys decide what you want

to do?"

"Yeah, we're planning on exploring for at least three days."

I nodded. "You want to find the nerds, after all."

"Yeah, the n—Oda-kun and his friends."

Impressive. She stopped herself just in time.

"I figure you've gotta make sure the mean girls follow through," I

said. They had improved so much as people, but their quest wasn't over

until they found the nerds.

In battle, the mean girls had stayed on the front lines, a vanguard and

shield for the others. Even though everyone had already forgiven them and

recognized their contributions, it seemed like they hadn't yet forgiven

themselves. They had become much stronger, but they were still putting

themselves in danger with every battle.

That's why I felt like I had to help them find the nerds. Whether or

not the nerds forgave them, nothing would be settled until they at least said

their piece. They couldn't move on until they finished their quest.

The Class Rep nodded. "Well, we're not forcing Shimazaki-san and

her friends to do anything. I want to apologize alongside them. And to say

thanks, too."

Uh, who's Shimazaki-san? Someone in town? But Miss Glare was

glaring at me before I could ask.